Stratagem Con
by PairingMatters
Summary: The night after Harry had been cleared of all charges in his hearing for using Patronus in Little Whinging, James and Lily appeared to him, and offered him a course of action that would not only set him and a few others free from Dumbledore's manipulations, but also protecting them from Voldemort and his followers. Their interference resulted in a different finish of the war.
1. Chapter 1

**Stratagem Con**

This is the reworked version of my story, Stratagem Con.

The original version had 42 chapters, but this version will only have 40, as James and Lily will appear to Harry only if they think they need to. Harry won't need to know a lot of things happened in Hogwarts because he won't be there.

Once the first chapter of the new version is up, the old version will be removed soon. The updates will be much faster. You should see the story complete within no later than sixty days from the day I upload the first chapter.

For those of you who liked this story, you will like this new version more. I have checked the story using grammar checkers, so you won't find too many sentence structure problems or tense problems, which makes this story much easier to read than the previous version.

Chapter 1

**Flight**

Disclaimer: Everything in Harry Potter universe belongs to J.K. Rowling. I got nothing out of this except for enjoyment.

"_HE GOT OFF! HE GOT OFF! HE GOT OFF!"_

"_SHUT UP!" roared Mrs Weasley._

Even though Harry was looking forward to going back to Hogwarts, he did not know what will happen next.

He considered what Ron had told him over one month ago.

"_She went to ask him if you could come straight to us this summer, but he wants you to go back to the Dursleys, at least at first."_

"_Why?"_

"_She said Dumbledore's got his reasons, and I suppose we've got to trust him, haven't we?"_

Why did he have to trust Dumbledore? He could've spent the summer holiday elsewhere. He knew that Privet Drive has never been his home, his aunt and uncle had never treated him like a son.

He did not know whether he should trust Ron or not, but he thought that it would be best not to show his suspicion in front of him.

That night, as he fell asleep, two figures appeared.

He immediately realised that it must be his parents, but he suspected that Voldemort might be using this way to trick him. However, he decided to give it a shot and see if they are real.

"There's something you've got to know, Harry," Lily said.

"What?" asked Harry.

"Let's start from Dumbledore," Lily said. "He is not trustworthy."

Harry did not know what to say, he simply stared at Lily.

"Do you know how much you have suffered while you were living with my sister?" Lily asked.

Harry nodded.

"Why did Dumbledore want me to go back there?" he asked.

"His reason for you to go back there was that he wants you protected from Voldemort and his Death Eaters," Lily said. "He had set up some blood wards so that Voldemort would not get you. But why didn't he check on you? He was raising you to die, so he had to make sure you have nothing to live for; or hope for, since part of Voldemort's soul lives in you, something has to be done about this before Voldemort could be defeated."

"No wonder I have been having dreams about Voldemort when he was angry," Harry said.

"The Dementors attacked you and your cousin this summer, was ordered by none other than Dolores Umbridge," said James. "She did this to prevent you from spreading the fact that Voldemort had returned."

Thinking back about what happened in the courtroom during his trial, Harry felt angry, he had almost been expelled from Hogwarts for using a Patronus against the Dementors, and Dolores Umbridge was laughing about it, along with some other people in the courtroom.

He wondered whose side Fudge was on.

The Minister's disbelief of Voldemort's return would no doubt give Voldemort an advantage, and what with Fudge's leaning towards the Pureblood society, that he agreed with Wizards like Lucius Malfoy, Walden Macnair – both were followers of Voldemort, this would no doubt make the Ministry a vulnerable target to Voldemort.

And the Daily Prophet's wording of assumptions against him would only increase Voldemort's chance of launching an attack against the Wizarding world.

Thinking back from his past four years in Hogwarts, it was his home. But he knew that this year, even the Wizarding world had made snide remarks about him, and he did not know what would happen if he returns to Hogwarts.

"We are going to get you and Hermione out of here at once," said James. "I want you to have a happy life."

Considering what happened in the past few years, Harry knew how horrible the Dursleys had been to him, living at their presence had never been a good experience for him.

After he went back to Privet Drive as soon as he had finished his fourth year at Hogwarts, he spent time outside the house, determined to find out about what was happening in the Wizarding world. Upon his arrival at Grimmauld Place, he discovered some disappointing things through Ron and Hermione, from the Daily Prophet, mentioning about him being attention-seeking, etc.

"What about Ron?" he asked, thinking of what would happen if he didn't have Ron beside him, or at least letting Ron know that he would leave Britain with Hermione.

"I don't want Ron to come with you," James said, "because I can't just separate families, if I let all the Weasleys come with you and clone them, some of them won't believe us, and they won't cooperate with us."

Harry sighed.

"Yes, I understand that our action may not do good to them afterwards, but this option is by far the best," James continued.

Harry knew that he liked Hermione, but if he takes Hermione with him, he will most likely study with her all day long.

"I know what you are thinking, Harry," James said. "If you had been brought up in a proper environment, by loving and responsible guardians, you would have trusted other people more."

"I know you felt awkward about spending time with Hermione, but I am sure that you will get used to it as time goes," Lily said.

Harry gasped.

He had only pored over books in the library after his name came out of the Goblet of Fire, thanks to Hermione for that, as she was the only one who believed that he didn't enter the Tri-Wizard Tournament himself.

"I will have a word with Hermione as well, just so that things don't go overboard," James said. "You should put the effort in studying anyway, as your fifth year is Ordinary Wizarding Level."

Harry nodded, then he smiled.

"How are you going to get us out of here?" he asked.

"We are going to apply a type of magic known as Metaphysical Magic to stop time for a moment," said Lily. "The Ministry won't detect this magic."

"What is Metaphysical Magic?" asked Harry.

"Metaphysical Magic is a type of magic that is beyond what Wizards can think of," Lily explained. "It can do pretty much anything to both the Muggle and the Wizarding World, and no one will recognise it."

"Only people who live beyond death can receive it, and they only receive it if they truly need it," James added. "It is issued by Death."

"Can you stop the time for as long as you want so I can just do whatever I need to do?" Harry asked.

"We are only allowed to stop time for a maximum of thirty minutes," Lily said.

"Where do you want me to go once I am out of here?" asked Harry.

"To the Granger's residence," James said. "But I want you to prepare to leave the country. You will need to acquire a passport from Gringotts before you leave this country."

"Where are we going after we leave Britain?" asked Harry.

"Canada," James said. "You and Hermione will attend a new school called Sainites Academy of Magical Arts, which starts in the second week of January."

Harry gasped, but then he smiled.

"To prevent anyone in the Wizarding Britain from becoming aware of your absence," Lily said, "we will clone you, and your friend, Hermione Granger; before we get you two out of here."

"We will first get the part of Voldemort's soul out of your head, Harry, and we will banish it into your clone," James said, "in this case, if Voldemort gets angry, your clone will have dreams about him."

"Will any Wizards be able to tell whether it is the real me or the cloned version of me?" asked Harry, his mind on Dumbledore, Voldemort and some of the other people who knew him.

"We will prevent any of the Wizards in here to be able to acknowledge that you had been cloned," Lily said. "By making the clones identical in every aspect, no one would suspect any of them, and they wouldn't think that another one of you stayed somewhere else, and therefore wouldn't have the thought of tracking you down. Using a clone to protect the original is an uncommon thing in the Wizarding world, unlike the Polyjuice Potion effects. We won't even need to do anything to prevent you and Hermione from being discovered by anyone in the Wizarding world in Britain."

"We will get a few toy robots, and turn them into your appearance and Hermione's appearance, as well as her parents' appearance," said Lily. "They will be made to appear and function exactly like the real you and Hermione, as well as Hermione's parents."

"And how long are you going to keep those robots appear like us?" Harry asked.

"We will transform the cloned you and Hermione back into robots at a certain point, depending on what happens," Lily replied. "We are not too sure about when we will do it, because we don't know what happens in the future."

Harry smiled.

Then another thought occurred to him.

"What about Sirius?" he asked. "He's locked up as well."

"We will clone him as well," said Lily, "but he will need to get a trial as soon as he gets out of this country because he was accused of a crime that he did not commit."

"You could've appeared to me years before now to get me out of Britain, though," Harry said.

"To you, it may be a while, but our world is beyond time and space," James said. "By the way, we don't have the ability to appear to you in this way until we entered the Metaphysical world, and we need time to learn Metaphysical Magic."

"The ability to clone someone took us a while to master," Lily said.

"Why don't you just kill Voldemort?" asked Harry.

"Metaphysical Magic does not allow us to kill anyone directly," James answered. "We could grant you the ability of Metaphysical Magic for a short amount of time for you to kill Voldemort, but we don't want to surprise the Wizarding world with something they had no idea about."

o-o

Soon enough, Harry found himself in a house that he had never been before, he glanced around and saw Hermione standing next to him.

A moment later, their trunks appeared in front of them.

"You are in my house, Harry," Hermione said.

A moment later, a man appeared.

"I know that you two would come," he said. "Nice to meet you, Harry, I am Dan Granger."

He paused, and then he said:

"Come, Harry, I will show you where you can sleep," he said.

Harry followed him into a room, and then Dan turned on the light.

Harry scrambled onto the bed, and pulled the blanket over him, while Dan turned off the light.

"Sleep well," Dan said. "We can talk tomorrow morning."

Then he walked out of the room.

A few moments later, Harry fell asleep again, and then he saw his parents.

"The fake Harry and Hermione have been created, Harry," said Lily. "Now it is time for me to take the piece of Voldemort's soul out of your head."

She pointed her finger at Harry's scar, and after a few seconds, Harry felt something oozing out from his scar, and then Lily disappeared.

"She will be back in a second," James said.

"Would anyone be checking us?" asked Harry.

"At the moment, the time has been temporarily stopped," James said.

Just then, Lily arrived back.

"That's it, Harry, I have taken the part of Voldemort's soul out of your head, and inserted it into your clone's head," she said.

"I will say it again, there's no need to worry about being identified," James said. "No one in Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place or Hogwarts, or the Ministry would realise that you and Hermione were clones."

Harry smiled, if no one in Grimmauld Place or Hogwarts would be able to realise that he and Hermione was cloned, the Dursleys would certainly not be able to realise this either, only that they would be too happy to get rid of him.

He was confident that his parents had made the fake version of him to look completely identical to his real self, and they would also make his clone to act exactly like his real self.

He nodded.

"Why did Voldemort want to kill me when I was a baby?" he asked.

Lily pondered this question for a moment.

"I believe that now is the time to let you know," she said. "There was a prophesy made by Sybill Trelawney before your birth, and it said that the boy who born at the end of July can defy Voldemort."

"So Voldemort heard the prophesy?" asked Harry.

"Voldemort only heard the beginning of it," Lily replied. "He believed that after he had killed you, no one would be capable of killing him."

"Neville Longbottom was also born in July, but Voldemort chose you, because you are a Half-Blood, just like him," James went on. "Severus Snape overheard the prophecy, and he was the one who had passed the information to Voldemort."

Harry sighed, this information had made him hate Snape even more.

o-o

On the following morning, Harry got up, and he walked out of his bedroom into the dining room, then he saw Hermione and her parents.

"Harry," Dan said. "This is my wife, Emma Granger."

"Your parents told us what we ought to do," Emma said.

"What do you think about the fact that you will be faked?" asked Harry.

"While we don't want this to happen to us, I don't think there is a better way to stay away from the danger that is happening in Britain than the way that your parents had designated," Dan said

"How do you feel about leaving like this, Harry?" Emma asked.

"I felt that this is a good idea," Harry replied.

"How do you feel about this, Hermione?" Emma asked.

"I am going to miss Hogwarts, but it doesn't hurt to move somewhere else, consider that I might not be safe here anyway," replied Hermione.

Sirius arrived into the dining room a moment later, and he greeted Harry.

"Sirius," Harry said. "Good to see you again."

"Hello Harry," Sirius said.

"Did my parents clone you as well, Sirius?" Harry asked in a whisper.

Sirius nodded.

After they had eaten their breakfast, James and Lily appeared again, and they teleported Harry to Gringotts.

Harry met Griphook at the counter, so he walked up to him.

"How can I help you today?" asked Griphook.

"I would like to get a passport," Harry said.

Griphook nodded.

"You will be required to take a photo first, and then we will print it out for you a few hours later," he said. "Follow me."

He led Harry into a room, and then he handed Harry a form for him to fill in.

After Harry had filled in his form, he handed it back to Griphook.

"Now we will take your photo," Griphook said.

Then he walked away into another room, reappearing a moment later with a camera in his hand.

"Go and sit down on the chair," he said, gesturing at a chair on Harry's right side.

As soon as Harry did what he was told, Griphook walked opposite where Harry had sat, and then he held up the camera and took a shot.

Then he checked the photo and nodded.

"Come," he said.

Harry got up from the chair and followed him back to the reception area.

"Now, just wait, we will have the passport out ready for you."

Harry sat and waited.

Half an hour later, Griphook arrived back and handed Harry his passport.

"Thanks," Harry said.

Putting the passport into his pocket, he slowly made his way out of Gringotts.

o-o

"Did you get your passport, Harry?" Hermione asked as she saw Harry appearing in her home.

"Yes, I did get it," Harry said.

"Good, now we are going to get ready before we leave," Hermione said.

They made their way to the living room and saw Dan and Emma again, and they sat down.

"We are not required to do anything about this house and our dental practice," Dan said to Emma. "Because we have already been cloned, and as soon as we leave, the fake us will come to live in this house."

"And I expect that anything we take with us will be duplicated once we leave this place," Emma said.

"When are we going to leave, anyway?" asked Dan.

Before anyone could answer, James and Lily appeared again.

"Preferably no later than tomorrow, but you can wait one week if you require more time to prepare," Lily said. "We will book you guys a hotel once you are ready to go."

"We will take you guys once you are ready," James said, and then he handed Harry a bag, and waved his hand for a while. "However, I should mention it is really important for you to leave as soon as possible."

Harry took the bag, and he realised that it was not heavy at all, and a question occurred to him.

"What is this bag for?" he asked.

"I have taken out all your money from your vault, and placed them inside this bag," James said. "This bag has a Feather Light Charm and an Undetectable Extension Charm on it, so you would not feel anything."

"What should I do with all this money?" asked Harry.

"You will be required to open a vault once we get you to Canada," said James. "And Sirius, I will do yours later."

"We have duplicated all your coins and placed them in your vault in Gringotts," Lily said. "Those coins in your vault are just as real as the original ones, no one will notice a single difference between the original and the duplicated ones no matter how carefully they examine it."

Later that day, Dan and Emma took Harry to the clothing store and bought him some outfits, and then they exchanged their money to Canadian dollars.

As soon as Harry got changed into his new outfits, he looked in the mirror and smiled.

o-o

About one week later, Harry, Sirius, Hermione, and Hermione's parents were ready to leave Britain.

Then James and Lily appeared and teleported them to a pavement.

"You will be required to book rooms, there's a hotel ahead of you," James said.

"Where are we?" asked Harry.

"You guys are in the city of Toronto, Ontario," James answered.

"What's Ontario?" Harry asked.

"Ontario is a province of Canada," James answered.

Harry, Hermione, Dan, Emma, and Sirius made their way to the hotel, and they entered the reception area.

They booked two rooms, one for the Grangers, and one for Harry and Sirius.

Then they went into the rooms that they had booked, and they placed their things inside as they arrived.

"It's still early, though," Dan said, glancing on the clock that was hanging on the wall of their room. "The time in Britain is different."

"A few hours time difference is not a matter to me," Emma said.

After Dan, Emma, and Hermione adjusted their watches to the time showed on the clock on the wall, they sat down.

A surge of excitement washed through Harry, as he knew that no one would be able to discover that he and Hermione were not there.

"What do you think about being faked, Hermione?" Harry asked in a whisper.

Hermione giggled for a moment.

"It is like that we are in two places at once, but it is more secure than just getting away from Britain," she said quietly.

o-o

Two weeks passed, and the end of August was right around the corner.

Sirius had his trial at the Ministry of Magic in Canada, and he was found innocent. After the trial, he declared guardianship of Harry.

Harry had set up a vault in a Wizarding Bank called Debilo, and placed all his money inside his vault.

"Both of us are free now, Harry," Sirius said in a low voice.

Harry knew that it was true, and no one in Britain would be looking for him and Sirius since they had both been cloned, and their clones were still in Britain. He knew that this would fool the Wizarding world, not to mention that Dumbledore's plan would fall apart later on.

He did not receive any news about what happened to his clone, but he knew that his parents would keep him updated about that, so it would not be much of a big deal to him. All he knew was that his clone would be going to Hogwarts soon.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

**A Direct Appointment**

Disclaimer: Everything in Harry Potter universe belongs to J.K. Rowling. I got nothing out of this except for enjoyment.

On the first day of September, James and Lily gave Harry and Hermione a portkey, and it teleported both of them close to Sainites Academy of Magical Arts.

Harry glanced around and saw a building not too far away from him, there was an office, and some other buildings. There was also a multitude of new students, some of them were accompanied by their parents.

"Next please," Harry heard someone speaking, and another student entered.

Half an hour later, the students in front of them were cleared, and then they moved forward.

Another moment passed, and then Harry heard another voice.

"Next one please."

Harry and Hermione entered.

As soon as they had entered, they saw a woman who was in her forties stood there.

"My name is Patricia Sullivan, how can I help you two?" she asked.

"We would like to enrol into this school," said Harry.

"Name, and age, please," Patricia said.

"Harry Potter, fifteen," said Harry.

"Hermione Granger, fifteen, about to turn sixteen in roughly three weeks," Hermione said.

"You two are transferring students," Patricia said. "You will need to book an appointment, and you will need to sit a test so we can decide what year you are going to be in."

"We are starting our fifth year here," Harry said.

"Have you two been studying in another magical school previously?" Patricia asked.

"Yes, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," Harry replied.

"How many years have you two been studying there?" asked Patricia.

"Four years already," Harry said.

"We will need to test you two before we see whether you are going to be in fourth year or fifth year," Patricia said.

Harry felt slightly nervous, after all, he didn't do his exam in his fourth year at Hogwarts since he was the Tri-Wizard Champion.

He had decided to drop Divination since he no longer needed it, and he decided to take Arithmancy and Ancient Runes, which means that he will need to work harder since he had never taken these subjects before.

"When are you going to test us?" asked Harry.

"Depends on what day you choose," said Patricia. "We have test days that will run through from August until the second week of December."

"How about the end of November?" asked Harry, as he felt that might be a bit better than worrying about it before Christmas.

"Sure," said Patricia. "I will send you a letter by owl telling you the date and time."

"That's fine, but I want to take optional subjects that I have not been taking at Hogwarts," Harry said.

"Well," said Patricia, taking a piece of parchment from the table, "have a look, and tell me which one you want to take."

Harry took the paper, and carefully examined it.

As his eyes reached Divination, he simply looked past it, and as he continued to search down the list, he saw Arithmancy, and then he continued to run his eyes down the list, he found Ancient Runes.

"Arithmancy and Ancient Runes," he said.

"And you haven't been taking either of these subjects before?" asked Patricia.

Harry nodded.

"The thing is that no matter whether you have taken these subjects before or not, you will need to sit a test on each of them anyway," said Patricia. "Work extra hard since you need to pass a test on them."

"All right," said Harry.

"The Orientation date will start on the third week of December, ends on the last day of the month," said Patricia. "Again, we will notify you about the date by sending letters using owls."

She paused, and then she said.

"To make sure that what you told us about your name and age are true, we need some kind of identification from you. Do you have any identification?"

Harry and Hermione immediately took out their passports and handed them over to Patricia.

"Very well," Patricia said after she had looked at their passports, and then she handed them back to Harry and Hermione. "You two may be dismissed now, we will see you again on your test day."

Harry and Hermione walked out of the office, and then they portkeyed back to the hotel.

"Hi, Harry, Hi, Hermione, how was the enrolment?" asked Sirius.

"Good so far, but we need to be tested before we get accepted," Harry said.

"You will probably be quite busy within these months, Harry," Hermione said, and Harry nodded.

"What do you mean?" asked Sirius.

"He's taking electives that he did not take while he was in Hogwarts," Hermione said.

"All right, then," Sirius said. "If you want to take those electives, you need to use the next few months wisely, Harry."

"We have until the end of November," Harry said. "I have about three months to prepare for it."

"There is a possibility that you may not be able to take both Ancient Runes and Arithmancy," Hermione said.

"Possibly, but we will see," Harry said.

o-o

Vernon and Petunia Dursley, meanwhile, found themselves in a place they had never been before.

"What is this place?" asked Petunia.

"I don't know," Vernon replied.

He shockingly glanced around the place that they are in, they were standing on a place full of sand, but it was not hot, so he concluded that the place that they are in would not likely be a desert.

"How are we going to get back to Number Four, Privet Drive?" he asked.

"I don't know," Petunia said.

"If we cannot find our way back, who will pick up Dudley?" asked Vernon.

Petunia shook her head, she hadn't got a single idea of what was going on.

All of a sudden, a burst of flame surrounded them, and then they felt they were being dragged inside a black hole.

Vernon and Petunia gasped in horror as they saw several monsters approaching them, the monsters looked as strong as giants, and they were also quite fat, too, and their faces looked fierce and scary.

The monsters were called Multi Hobbits, because they had several hobbies, like eating human meat, playing sports, and they often have to chuck rubbish away into the rubbish bin. They had the skills to transform human beings and animals into objects so they could use them.

"We haven't been eating anything for several days, and I am going to eat you both tonight," one monster said.

Vernon and Petunia both gasped, and they tried to escape, but there was not a single exit around the hole they were in. There was a hole above them, but they couldn't reach it.

"No, don't eat them, we will shrink them so they look like cricket bats," said another monster.

"And what does that do?" the first monster asked.

"We can just use the cricket bats to play crickets," the second monster said.

"Or else take it as if they are rubbish, and throw them into the rubbish bin, and let flies and mosquitos fly around them," the first monster said.

"Let's just turn them fat," said the second monster.

"There's no point making them scare anyone," said the first monster.

"Turn them into balls and kick them around, how about that?" asked the second monster.

"Yeah," said the first monster.

Vernon and Petunia looked at the monsters with disgust. To be honest, they hated magic, and they hate to be transformed into objects and being used. But they had no choice since they couldn't escape the hole, or fight with the monster; since they knew that they are too weak to fight them.

After several seconds, Vernon and Petunia were turned into balls, each ball was as big as a football.

"Let's play the balls," said the first monster, and he kicked the ball to the second monster, and the second monster kicked the ball to the third monster, going through the motions again and again.

After a few hours, the monsters were tired, so they placed the balls inside a box, and sealed it shut.

o-o

As the week passed, James and Lily appeared again in Harry's sleep.

"We have cloned your aunt and uncle, and right now the real ones are in a hole which is called Monster Gap, and the monsters turned Vernon and Petunia into balls and played with it," Lily said.

"Dudley can't tell if his parents were fake or not, can he?" asked Harry.

"Of course not," Lily said.

o-o

As Harry woke up on the following morning, he got up and dressed.

He went out of the door and found Hermione.

"Harry," Hermione said quietly. "We will be moving away into our new house in two days."

"Good," Harry said. "I am looking forward to living in our new house."

"How's your sleep, Harry?" Hermione asked.

"I slept quite well," Harry said.

A few moments later, Sirius, Dan and Emma arrived to meet them.

After breakfast, Harry and Hermione walked outside, sat down together to enjoy the sunshine.

Dan, Emma and Sirius were a few feet in front of them, chatting.

"You don't know what happened to the cloned you yet, do you?" Dan asked Sirius in a whisper.

Sirius shook his head.

"Who cares," Sirius said quietly. "If my clone had died, everyone in Wizarding Britain will believe that I died, they will never realise that the real me is here."

"That means we must not go back to Britain, or else we will be giving the Wizards a lot of trouble," said Emma.

Dan nodded.

"That's right, people with the same appearance would be causing trouble not only to the Wizarding World; but also the Muggle world, particularly if they have stumbled upon each other," he said. "It would be almost impossible to figure out which one is real and which one is fake."

Sirius nodded, then he glanced around to make sure that no other people were listening, then said: "James and Lily had told me to keep the fact that we have been cloned quiet from the outsiders."

o-o

Two days later, Harry, Hermione, Hermione's parents, and Sirius arrived at the new house they had bought. It had four bedrooms, one bathroom, two toilets, one dining room, one living room, and one kitchen.

The house was quite empty, as there was no furniture inside, although Dan had ordered two large beds and one small bed, which only arrived yesterday.

"Maybe I can help to fund the furniture," said Harry.

"Can you even afford that, Harry?" Emma asked.

"Yes, I can, my dead parents left me loads of money," Harry answered.

"Thanks, Harry, but there's no need for you to do that," Dan said quietly. "We have enough money to buy them."

They explored the house and discovered that there was a stove in the kitchen, which means that they could at least cook food for now.

After lunch, two owls knocked at the window a few minutes later.

Harry immediately went and opened the window to let the owls in, and he discovered that the owls were carrying a letter each.

He took the letters off from the owls and discovered that one is for him and one is for Hermione.

"What's going on, Harry?" Dan asked.

"Here," Harry said, taking the letter that was addressed to Hermione into Dan's hand. "Give this to Hermione."

Then he opened the envelope, took the letter out, unfolded it and started to read.

_Dear Mr Potter_

_Thank you for your interest to study in our school, I would like to tell you that you will need to sit a test before you can gain entry into this school._

_Your test will be on the 25th and the 26th of November from 10 am to 2 pm, also, you will have a test on the optional subjects you have chosen, Ancient Runes and Arithmancy, on the 28th of the same month, from 10 am to 12 pm._

_Regards_

_Professor Adrian Baker, Headmaster of Sain__i__t__es__ Academy of Magical Arts_

_P.S: Touch the nail clipper and say 'Acute' to get to the school's main entrance._

Harry knew that the test was still a few months away, but he also knew that he will need to work a bit harder since he didn't sit the exam at the end of last year in Hogwarts, not to mention that he did not take Ancient Runes and Arithmancy.

"Harry," Hermione said. "Do you want to have a look at my Ancient Runes and Arithmancy textbooks?"

"Yes, I'll do that soon," Harry said.

Hermione took out her Ancient Runes and Arithmancy books and placed them in front of him.

He knew that he would be poring over books as he did in his fourth year at Hogwarts, but he was looking forward to it more than he did before. No more abuses, no more fears of getting his books confiscated, and he can study whenever he wants to.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

**Acceptance**

Disclaimer: Everything in Harry Potter universe belongs to J.K. Rowling. I got nothing out of this except for enjoyment.

Over the next few days, Dan and Emma bought the dining table, as well as tableware, and the things they need for cooking, such as pots.

They installed the dining table, placed it in the dining room, and they decided to buy a fridge on the following day.

"It's going to take us a few days to get our home settled," Emma said.

On the following day, Dan left home after breakfast.

"We need to get washing machine as well," Emma said. "We have a lot to do."

"Maybe I can dry the clothes for you after it's being washed," Sirius said.

"What do you mean?" Emma asked.

"Using magic," Sirius answered.

"Thanks, but there won't be any need to," Emma said, laughing.

There was a short silence.

"Are you ever going to find a job, Sirius?" Emma asked.

"I think I will," Sirius answered. "I just need to know where I work."

Dan arrived back home two hours later.

"I have bought the fridge, and it will arrive this afternoon," he said. "Someone is going to deliver it to our door."

"What are we going to eat for lunch?" asked Sirius.

"Let's just eat some takeaway for now," Dan said, then he left home.

Twenty minutes later, he arrived back with five Subway sandwiches, and then he gave Harry, Hermione, Sirius, and Emma one each, leaving the last one for himself.

After they had eaten, they placed the wrappings inside the bin.

A few hours later, there was a knock on the door.

Dan went to open it.

It was the delivery men, carrying a green fridge.

Dan showed them where to put the fridge.

The delivery men moved the fridge to the place Dan told them to, then they left.

Emma plugged the electricity into the socket on the wall.

"I am going shopping now," Dan said, then he left.

Two hours later, he arrived back home, and Emma and Sirius helped him organising everything, putting them into the right place.

One hour later, Dan and Emma went to the kitchen and began cooking.

By half-past six, Emma called Harry, Hermione and Sirius.

"Dinner's ready," she said.

Harry, Hermione and Sirius got to their feet, walked into the dining room and sat down.

Harry helped himself to carrots and potatoes, as well as chicken and eggs.

"We shall have to go and find a job soon," Dan said.

"I second that," Emma said.

On the following day, Dan and Emma began looking for jobs in the newspaper.

After lunch, Dan left home to buy the washing machine.

One hour later, he arrived back home.

"I've ordered the washing machine, and it will be delivered tomorrow," he said.

o-o

At ten o'clock on the following day, two delivery men arrived, and they placed the washing machine into the laundromat.

"Sirius, maybe I should wash your clothes some time," Dan said after the delivery men left their home.

"What am I going to wear while my clothes are being washed?" asked Sirius.

"I'll buy you some clothes, don't worry if it is from Muggle clothes shop," Dan said.

"Fair enough," Sirius said.

Dan began to look at the newspaper, and he found a job opportunity.

"Emma, come please, there is a job opportunity for us," he said.

Emma arrived, and she glanced at the newspaper.

"All right," she said. "We will go for it."

o-o

A few more days passed, Dan and Emma announced that they would start working on the fifteenth of September.

"Are you going to look for a job, Sirius?" Harry asked.

"I'll do that sometime later," Sirius said.

"I think we should consider celebrating Hermione's birthday now," Dan said.

"Yes, I think so," Emma said. "Her birthday was never celebrated since she entered Hogwarts."

"There's no need to invite anyone this time," Hermione said. "We have enough people already."

o-o

19th September 1995

"Happy birthday, Hermione," Harry said.

"Thanks, Harry," Hermione said, and she embraced him in a hug.

"How old are you now, Hermione?" asked Harry.

"Sixteen," Hermione replied.

"Wouldn't there be two of us having our birthday on the same day?" asked Harry in a whisper.

Hermione knew what Harry meant, as she and Harry had both been cloned.

"Possibly, only that the fake me wouldn't be celebrating it," she said.

Harry didn't want to say anything about this, as he feared that if he let slip the wrong words, it might hurt her feelings.

"You mentioned once that your birthday is in September," he said.

Hermione fell silent.

"Yes, I did," she said, "before our third year in Hogwarts."

"You are slightly older than me, it seems," Harry said.

"Do you think that matters?" asked Hermione.

"I don't think so," Harry said.

"It never really matters," Hermione said.

During dinner time, Dan and Emma prepared the cake, as well as cooking the food. Harry had decided to help with the cooking, but Dan and Emma said that he didn't need to do it yet.

"Not this time, Harry, maybe next time," Dan said shortly. "You may help with setting up the table."

Harry nodded.

As soon as the table was set up, Dan and Emma took the candles, placed them on the cake and lit them.

After a chorus of Happy Birthday, Dan took off the candle, and everyone began to eat.

"Harry," Dan began. "I've heard from your parents saying that you never had a birthday party before, have you?"

"That's right, I never had one," Harry said.

"We will celebrate it when it is your turn," said Hermione.

"Thanks, but we need to see when is the school holiday of Sainites Academy of Magical Arts," said Harry. "If my birthday falls on the school term, we may need to celebrate it in school."

o-o

Harry and Hermione sat together outside their home, they had gotten pretty much everything they needed, and Sirius was feeling better than ever, as he was no longer locked up.

"What subject did you choose when you were in Hogwarts, Harry?" asked Sirius.

"Divination and Care of Magical Creatures," Harry answered. "It turns out that Divination is not quite the right subject for me; since the Divination teacher kept on predicting my death."

"You simply just followed what Ron had chosen during that time," Hermione said.

"Professor Trelawney made the prophecy, though," Sirius said.

Harry nodded.

"How did you feel about Care of Magical Creatures?" asked Sirius.

"Care of Magical Creatures is all right for me," Harry answered. "However, I am not going to take it, and nor will I be taking Divination once I enter Sainites Academy."

"I am not going to take Care of Magical Creatures in this school either," Hermione said. "This will make me less stressed."

At this point, Harry started thinking about all the Potion lessons he had beforehand, Snape had always favoured the students in his own house over others, not criticising about the wrongdoings of Draco Malfoy.

"I hope the Potions teacher in Sainites Academy teaches better than Snape," Hermione said.

Sirius was listening, and he couldn't resist how Harry had felt about Snape.

"How much more do you think Snape can get away with?" he asked.

Harry and Hermione both looked up.

"I wondered how the other teachers in Hogwarts felt about Snape," Harry said.

"If Dumbledore didn't have any word against him, what could the other teachers do about him?" asked Hermione.

Harry said nothing, and then he giggled again.

He stood up slowly, walked for a few minutes, and he made some consideration.

Snape had not been a nice person in his eyes, he used every single opportunity to take points from him; and had never missed an opportunity to give him detentions.

Then he told Sirius some of the things that Snape had done while he was in Hogwarts.

o-o

Seven weeks later, Harry and Hermione were ready for the test that Sainites Academy had asked them to take. On the 25th of November, they had their breakfast, and they were ready to go.

"Good luck, Harry, Hermione," Dan said.

"Hope that you pass," Sirius said.

Harry and Hermione touched their portkeys, and they murmured: 'Acute'.

Then they disappeared before Dan's eyes.

"What was Hogwarts like when you were in your fifth year?" he asked Sirius.

"Pretty normal," Sirius said.

"It seems that you and Snape are enemies," Emma said.

"That's right," Sirius said. "James was one of my friends while I was in Hogwarts. Snape disliked James."

Dan considered for a moment and said.

"If Snape is not acting like a good guy, why would Dumbledore hire him?"

Sirius told Dan what he told Harry, Ron and Hermione over a year ago while he was in the cave with them.

"So you think that Snape is on the Dark side?" asked Dan.

Sirius nodded.

"Dumbledore made us reconcile, but that doesn't change him, does it?" he asked.

Then he decided to change the subject.

"I am sure Harry and Hermione will have fewer worries about biased teachers once they start their new school," he said.

"I'll have to see how Harry and Hermione feel about this new school in their first week, though," Emma said.

"You don't need to worry about this, for I am sure that James and Lily will pick the best magical school for them to attend," Sirius said.

Emma nodded.

o-o

Harry and Hermione arrived back at five minutes past two.

"How did you two do?" asked Sirius.

"I am doing okay," Hermione answered.

"I am doing all right," Harry said. "We are going to be dealing with the optional subjects tomorrow."

"Are my parents at work?" Hermione asked.

"They left after lunch," Sirius answered, nodding.

"Let's revise them while we still have time, Harry," Hermione suggested.

Harry nodded in agreement.

He began to read Hermione's Arithmancy and Ancient Runes book again.

On the following day, they set off for Sainites to sit their test on optional subjects.

Dan and Emma set off for work a few minutes after Harry and Hermione left, leaving Sirius on his own.

Harry and Hermione arrived back home at five past two that afternoon.

As Sirius saw them, he asked them how they did.

"I am doing fine," Hermione said.

"I should be all right," Harry said. "I have to see if I pass them or not."

"Do you think you will pass?" Hermione asked.

"I bet I will," Harry replied. "We won't know for sure until we get our test results."

He was half excited, and half worried.

He was excited because if he passed, he would be qualified to enter his fifth year, but he was also worried if he didn't pass, he may have to repeat his fourth year, falling behind.

One day, when Harry and Hermione sat together in his room, two owls knocked on the window, and Harry opened it to let them in.

The two owls dropped the letters onto Harry and Hermione's laps, and they left.

Harry and Hermione took their letters, and then Harry opened his.

_Dear Mr Potter_

_I would like to inform you that you have been accepted into Sainites Academy, you have passed all of your tests, including the two tests on the optional subjects that you had elected to take for next year._

_Your orientation will be on the 12th of December, at 11 am, which you will receive information about this school._

_P.S: Touch the screw in the envelope and say 'Sainites' to get to the school._

_Regards_

_Professor Adrian Baker, Headmaster of Sainites Academy of Magical Arts_

Harry looked up and saw Hermione.

"What does your letter say?" Hermione asked.

Harry passed the letter to her, and he smiled.

"Wow, that's good," Hermione said. "My one says pretty much the same thing."

A moment later, Sirius entered.

Harry and Hermione handed their letters to him to look.

"Well done, you two," Sirius said as he glanced at the letters. "Hermione, you should show your parents your letter."

Hermione nodded.

After she took the letter from Sirius, she went to find her parents.

Several minutes later, Dan and Emma entered into Harry's room.

"Good on you," Dan said.

"I am sure that we will feel more comfortable in this school," Hermione said. "I also hope that you study harder than you did in Hogwarts once the school starts."

Harry nodded.

A/N: I appreciate everyone's review so far.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

**Orientation**

Disclaimer: Everything in Harry Potter universe belongs to J.K. Rowling. I got nothing out of this except for enjoyment.

Harry and Hermione were delighted that they had been accepted into the new school that they had enrolled in.

"No matter what question they ask us during our orientation, we must keep the fact that there's a copy of us in another country to ourselves," Hermione said to Harry.

Harry nodded.

"We can just say that we immigrated here," he said.

"Quite true, actually," Hermione said. "If they ask us whether we have attended a Wizarding school previously, we will say yes, but we will say that we have decided to transfer."

"Just hope that they don't ask us too many questions," Harry said.

"We can tell anyone in that school about what had happened during the past four years in Hogwarts, though," Hermione said, "either in part or whole."

Harry nodded.

"I don't think anyone would be happy about the fact that others had been cloned, and their clones are living elsewhere, not only limited to everyone in Britain," he said.

He walked around inside the house for a while, and then he sat down on the sofa in the living room.

He could hear the boiling sound and the frying sound, and he realised that Dan and Emma must be cooking lunch right now.

A moment later, Sirius entered the living room and sat down beside him.

"I once overheard Draco Malfoy saying that his father had decided to send him to study in Durmstrang," Harry said.

"When and where did you hear that?" asked Sirius.

"When I was on the train to Hogwarts for my fourth year," Harry replied. "Durmstrang, however, would allow students to learn the Dark Arts."

There was a moment of silence, and then Dan arrived.

"Lunch is ready," he said.

Sirius and Harry got to their feet, went into the dining room, then they saw that Hermione and her mother has already seated.

Seeing the food on the table, they quickly took their seats, and then Dan arrived and sat down beside them.

Then they started to eat.

After they had eaten, Harry cleared the tables, and Emma washed the dishes.

After the dishes were washed, Harry and Hermione went into the living room and sat down together.

They glanced outside, saw the birds flying over the house, and they heard the sound of cars, and air-planes.

A moment later, Sirius, Dan and Emma arrived, and they took their seats.

"What do you think about living in the Muggle world, Sirius?" asked Dan.

"I don't think there is a problem for me to live in the Muggle world," Sirius replied. "It is better than Grimmauld Place."

"Let's go for a walk, shall we?" Dan asked.

Sirius nodded.

"Come, you two," Emma said. "We are going for a walk."

Harry and Hermione nodded, and so they set off.

They walked on the footpath, passing through the residences near their house, and went by the road.

The scenery was beautiful, there were trees on the grass, and birds were flying around them, singing.

However, on their way back, just about one metre left before they reached their home, the rain started to pour down from the sky. The five of them hastened their steps and ended up on running back home.

Dan opened the door, and they entered.

Then Sirius took out his wand and performed hot air charm on Dan, Emma, Harry and Hermione, soon, their clothes were dried up.

"Thank you, Sirius," Harry said.

"You're welcome," Sirius said.

o-o

On the 12th of December, Harry and Hermione had their breakfast, and they were prepared to go. Ten minutes before eleven o'clock, they took out their portkey that came with the letter, muttered 'Sainites', then they found themselves outside Sainites Academy.

Ten minutes later, they entered the reception area, and they showed the letter to the receptionist, a woman who appears to be in her forties.

"I'll introduce you to the Headmaster," she said. "Follow me."

Harry and Hermione followed her, and they arrived at the Headmaster's office.

The receptionist knocked on the door, and a moment later, the door opened.

Harry saw a man in his eighties, wearing glasses, and he had a long beard.

"New students, Professor Baker," she said.

"Thank you, Ruth Wade," Professor Baker said, glancing at Harry and Hermione. "Come in, you two."

Harry and Hermione entered Professor Baker's office, and they sat down.

"To what do I owe this pleasure?" Professor Baker asked.

Harry and Hermione took out their letters and handed them to Professor Baker.

"Oh… I see," Professor Baker said. "You two have been accepted into this school."

He stood up, rummaged through a pile of documents, and then he took out two papers and smiled.

"I must first congratulate you two for your good results," he said, handing the papers to them.

Harry and Hermione took the papers, examined it, then they nodded, and handed it back.

"It is time to tell you about Sainites Academy," he said.

He rummaged through another pile of documents, and fished out two sheets of paper, and handed it to them.

Harry and Hermione took it, and start to read.

**Term Dates of 1996**

Term one, 8th January to 30th March

Term two, 16th April to 24th July

Term three, 8th August to 17th November

Note: There will be no classes on the 8th of January, a start term banquet will be held in the hall at six o'clock in the evening on that day.

Harry smiled, and he knew that his birthday falls on the school holiday.

"You can keep the term dates papers," Professor Baker said.

Then he paused.

"Have you two been attending another Wizarding school?" he asked.

Harry and Hermione nodded.

"What Wizarding school did you two attend before?" asked Professor Baker.

"Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," said Harry.

"Is there any reason that you want to transfer here?" asked Professor Baker.

"Too many problems, like biased teachers, and bad students, plus unpleasant events," Hermione said. "We want to have a quiet life."

Then she told Professor Baker about her past four years at Hogwarts.

"I see," Professor Baker said, and he was determined to not question Harry and Hermione further about this issue. "In our school, there won't be any sort of this nonsense happening, we take discipline very seriously to each one of our students, and we are not allowed to have biased staff members favouring one student over the other."

"What about our textbooks?" asked Harry.

"Don't you worry about that, a book list will not be issued from now onwards, as we did several years ago, instead, we purchase the books, and simply give them to you for free," Professor Baker said. "We will also lend you equipment and ingredients to use in potions."

Harry and Hermione looked at each other and nodded.

"Hogwarts students are required to purchase their textbooks from book shops, according to the book list that they have been given," Hermione said.

"Although you no longer need to purchase textbooks to use in this school, you do need to buy parchments and quills," Professor Baker said. "Most Wizarding Book Shops sells them, such as Deli Wizarding Books, Roadio Wizarding Books."

"What about uniforms?" asked Harry.

"On the first week of the first school term, you are allowed to wear anything you like," Professor Baker said. "You will need to purchase the uniform from this school though."

Harry and Hermione looked at each other.

"So on the first week, we will be asked to try the uniform and see if it fits us before we buy it?" asked Hermione.

"Right, Miss Granger," Professor Baker said.

"What if our uniform doesn't fit us after one year?" asked Hermione.

"If you are talking about the fact that you have grown in size that you need a bigger uniform, inform the staff, you can purchase new ones from the school," Professor Baker said.

"Do we have to bring our trunks, still?" asked Harry.

"It would be best if you do," said Professor Baker. "Trunk is recommended, but not obligatory. School bags are compulsory, though."

Then he took two badges and handed them to Harry and Hermione.

Harry and Hermione examined it, and found that it said 'First Week Uniform Exemption'.

"What is this?" Hermione asked.

"Wear this badge for the first week when you arrive in this school," said Professor Baker, "so the students will know that it is the first week of this school for you two, and they won't be complaining about you two not wearing the uniform. Besides, all staff members know that you two are attending this school for the first week, so they wouldn't bother you about this."

"And does the same thing apply to every first-year students?" asked Hermione.

"Not just that," Professor Baker said, "it applies to everyone who had first arrived at this school."

"When can I purchase the uniform of this school?" asked Harry.

"Any weekdays, from 10 am to 5 pm," replied Professor Baker.

"What time does the class end each day?" asked Hermione.

"Usually 4 pm," replied Professor Baker. "Sometimes 4:30 pm if there's not enough time, though this happens very rarely. In some cases, there's no class for a whole afternoon, during which you may use it for your study, or you can just relax. You are to stay in this school until the end of each term, you only have to sign up if you want to stay in school during the school holidays, except for the Christmas holidays."

o-o

Harry and Hermione had just gotten back home from Sainites Academy, and they told Sirius about their orientation.

"This school is different," Sirius said. "If Hogwarts can issue textbooks for free, it would save the students time to buy them."

"There is a little disadvantage, though," Hermione said, "I wouldn't be able to learn from books beforehand."

"You can still learn extra things while you have spare time in school," Harry said.

"I know, Harry," Hermione said. "This, however, would mean that I have nothing to do for the entire holiday, unless if I buy those books."

"You won't know which ones to buy anyway," Harry said, "and you don't even know where to buy them."

Hermione fell silent, she felt a little disappointed at what Harry had said, however, what he had said was indeed true, and she felt that there would be no point arguing about it.

After lunch, they sat down together, turned on the television, and watched it for about half an hour.

After Dan turned the television off, he started to speak.

"We should consider buying a Christmas tree, don't you think?"

Harry could not fault Dan's idea; because there's only about two weeks away until Christmas.

In truth, he had never spent a single Christmas at home ever since he arrived at Hogwarts, but now he knew that he could spend the time at a house that he felt welcome, and with his best friend, Hermione Granger, although he also realised that he won't be having any more Weasley jumpers from now on, since Mrs Weasley would make it for his clone.

"I agree," he said.

"We will buy it tomorrow," Emma said. "We both have appointments tomorrow morning, but we have the afternoons off."

"Which leaves me to take care of Harry and Hermione while you both are away," Sirius said.

So on the following day, Harry and Hermione stayed home with Sirius during the morning. Harry washed and dried the dishes, and put them away.

"So, apart from the Dementors, what happened during the summer holiday before your fifth year in Hogwarts, Harry?" Sirius asked.

"I saw Dudley and his friends walking by the street every night, smoking cigarettes, and throwing stones at passing cars and children, but he just told his parents that he had gone out for tea in his friends' house," Harry said.

"And his parents believed him?" Hermione asked.

Harry nodded.

"What do you reckon would happen if they were discovered by the policemen?" Hermione asked.

"Maybe the policemen will tell their parents about that, and my aunt and uncle would at least know the truth about what Dudley was doing," Harry said. "The only thing that I am not quite certain about, is what my aunt and uncle would be saying to Dudley about what he was doing."

"Surely they would believe the policemen, wouldn't they?" asked Hermione.

"I bet they would," Harry said. "They probably would be disappointed about what Dudley had done."

"I don't think they would get away with him doing these things," Sirius said.

"You were watching them outside?" asked Hermione.

Harry nodded.

"Not in a sedulous manner though," he said. "I just saw them doing those things, and I was nicking papers out of bins, as I wanted to see the news during that time."

"Are you worrying about this now, Harry?" asked Sirius.

"No, I am not worrying about this now," Harry replied.

"To any of us, doing things right under Dumbledore's nose could be a challenge," Sirius said.

Then he got up with Harry and Hermione, and they walked for about half an hour.

"It's already ten past eleven," Hermione said.

"I'll do the cooking," Harry said.

o-o

Dan and Emma arrived back home at quarter past twelve, and they noticed that there were sandwiches placed on the table.

"Maybe we should consider eat out sometime later," Emma said. "I almost had the idea of buying something from the restaurant and bring it home to eat."

"And who squashed the idea?" asked Harry.

"Dan told me that since he didn't inform any of you that we would buy something from a restaurant, he decided to just come back and see if any food has been prepared, as the place we work is not far away from this house anyway," Emma said.

"Since there's no restaurant between here and our workplace, we decided to come back and see if we need to buy something from a restaurant," Dan said.

Then they sat down on the table and began to eat.

"Who made it?" Dan asked.

"Harry did," Hermione said.

"Thanks, Harry," Dan said.

After lunch, Dan began to ask Harry questions.

"What did you do when we were away?" he asked.

"Chatting," Harry said simply.

Dan decided to not question Harry, Hermione and Sirius of what they had been chatting about, knowing that he could wait until later. After all, he did not think their conversation is important to him.

o-o

That afternoon, Dan and Emma left home to buy the Christmas tree, while Harry, Hermione and Sirius stayed at home.

Harry and Hermione were both looking forward to this Christmas, and they wondered what their clone would do during Christmas. This Christmas would no doubt be the first Christmas that Harry will be spending with Hermione, as well as Sirius.

They chatted for about one hour, and then they heard the door open.

Harry and Hermione quickly went to the door, and they saw Dan and Emma carrying a box.

They helped him carrying it until they arrived at the living room.

"Is that the Christmas Tree?" asked Harry.

"Yes," answered Dan.

He placed the box down and said:

"We are going to set it up later."

Then he walked off and arrived back with two bags.

Harry and Hermione took a peek in each bag, discovering that in one bag contained the Christmas light, the other one contained the decorations.

o-o

Shortly before Christmas, Dan and Emma put up the Christmas tree, and Harry and Hermione helped them out with putting the decorations on the branches.

"This looks good," Hermione commented after they finished with the decorations.

Harry nodded.

"This looks wonderful," he said.

Sirius glanced at the Christmas tree in admiration, and he didn't know what he should say about this.

"Oh, by the way, Harry, your parents told me that Neville's parents were tortured by Bellatrix Lestrange and Barty Crouch Junior, under the Cruciatus Curse," Hermione said.

"That's right, I heard this from Dumbledore last year, but I didn't tell you that, because he suggested me to not tell anyone else about Neville's parents, that Neville had the right to let them know when he is ready," he said.

Hermione couldn't blame him for not telling her this.

"Where is Bellatrix Lestrange now?" she asked.

"In Azkaban," Harry said. "But if the Dementors joined Voldemort, then Bellatrix would be able to escape."

Hermione knew that it would do no good if the Death Eaters somehow manage to escape Azkaban.

"Then what would Fudge do?" she asked.

"He would probably blame Sirius again," Harry said. "He's too frightened to admit that Voldemort is back to power, so he thinks it is better to not admit it."

A few moments later, Dan entered the room.

"I and Emma are going to go shopping soon, and we will be back in a few hours," he said.

"Besides, Harry, we don't need you to do the cooking today," Emma said.

Harry and Hermione nodded, and they watched Dan and Emma leaving the house.

Harry glanced out of the window, and he saw a flock of birds flying past their house, he smiled.

"It's a lovely day, isn't it?" Sirius asked.

"Indeed," Harry answered.

He got up and walked around the room for a few minutes, wondering what food Dan and Emma would buy.

He couldn't wait for Christmas to arrive, as this would be the first Christmas he spent at home. His Christmas before Hogwarts had been horrible enough.

A few hours later, Dan and Emma arrived back, and Harry looked at the time, discovering that it was fifteen minutes to noon. He quickly helped them putting the food into the proper places, then he went back to the room, and sat down next to Hermione.

He began to look at the photo album that Hagrid had given him at the end of his first year in Hogwarts.

"Can I have a look at this?" Hermione asked.

Harry turned around, then he nodded.

Half an hour later, Dan arrived in the room where Harry and Hermione were in.

"Lunch is ready," he said.

Harry and Hermione made their way into the dining room, and they discovered that there are five burgers in one plate, Sirius was already seated by the dining table.

Then they sat down, taking one burger each, and started to eat.

Dan sat down, taking the only burger left in the plate, and began eating it.

After eating, Dan and Emma cleared the dishes, and Harry and Hermione, along with Sirius, went into the living room.

A few moments later, Dan entered the room and turned on the TV.

They watched the TV for a few hours, and then Dan turned the TV off.

"It's four o'clock now, I and Emma are going to cook soon," he said, and then Emma stood up and left the living room, then he stood up and followed her.

At around six o'clock, the dinner was ready.

"Looking forward to your new school, Harry?" Dan asked.

"Yes, but we have nothing to do to prepare ourselves, as we don't have the textbooks yet," Harry replied.

"There may not be any need to prepare yourself, as you can do it once you received them," Emma said.

After dinner, Dan and Emma cleared the table and washed the dishes, then Dan went to the living room and turned on the Christmas light.

"This Christmas will be wonderful," he said.

Around half-past eight, Harry and Hermione went to bed and slept, while Dan and Emma decided to sleep a bit later.

"Do you mind if I help you with organising the presents?" asked Sirius in a whisper.

"No," Dan answered.

They quickly and quietly took the presents, wrapped them, and placed them under the Christmas tree, and then they went off to their bed and slept.

o-o

On the following morning, Dan woke Harry up.

"There are presents under the Christmas tree, come and see," he said.

Harry nodded, and he got up and dressed, then he went down to the Christmas tree.

He searched for a while, then he discovered a package with his name on it, from Dan.

He opened the wrapping.

It was a digital watch.

Then he opened the package, took out the instructions and began to read, then he adjusted the time on the watch, according to the clock in the living room, before taking off his old watch from his wrist and put on the new one.

Then he searched further to see if there were more presents for him, and he discovered another present from Emma, which was several pairs of new socks.

A few moments later, Hermione arrived and began to search for her presents.

Then she found a wrapping with her name on it.

She opened the wrapping, discovering that it was a box with Year to Remember Coins, set in 1965 to 1993.

After breakfast, Harry thanked Dan for the watch, since his one stopped working during his fourth year at Hogwarts.

A few hours later, Dan and Emma began to cook lunch.

"I wondered if your parents knew that Harry needs a new watch," Sirius said.

"I told them," Hermione said.

As soon as lunchtime arrived, everyone sat at the table, looking at the food that Dan and Emma had cooked.

As Dan arrived in the dining room and sat down, everyone began eating.

"When did you buy that watch, by the way?" Harry asked Dan.

"The same day I bought the Christmas tree," Dan answered. "We left the presents in my car, not letting anyone know until Christmas Day."

That evening, Dan and Emma made a variety of dishes, and it all looked good.

As they ate, Dan asked Harry how he spent Christmas Days before he entered Hogwarts, and Harry told him that he had to cook for the Dursleys during Christmas Day, but not allowed to eat any.

"That's not good," Dan said.

"Never mind now," Harry said. "This won't happen to me again."

After Harry and Hermione finished eating, they went into their rooms, feeling too full to do anything.

Dan collected the dishes from the dining table, went to the kitchen and placed them in the sink.

Emma volunteered to wash the dishes, so Dan went into the living room.

Meanwhile, Harry and Hermione were in the living room, sitting together, and they saw Dan entering.

"Christmas is great, isn't it?" asked Hermione.

"Yes, this is the first real Christmas I ever had at home," Harry answered.

"You will be able to have more Christmas later," Hermione said.

Half an hour later, Emma arrived in the living room, and then Dan switched on the TV.

At half-past eight, Harry retired back into his room.

He was happy, and he knew that his days ahead would be brighter; no worries about anyone coming after him; and hopefully, no worries about being bullied when he arrives at his new school. Having Hermione staying with him was a bonus for him.

He went to bed at ten o'clock.

o-o

A few days after Christmas, two owls fled in and dropped two letters down in front of Harry and Hermione.

Harry took his letter, opened it, and started to read.

_Dear Mr Potter_

_The school term will start on the 8th of January. All students are required to hold the portkey (a screw) and say "Sainites" to get to the school. The school entrance will open from 3:30 pm onwards._

_There will be a feast at half-past five._

_Students may also bring an owl if they wish._

_Parchments will be provided if necessary, though students should purchase their parchments if they knew where to buy them._

_Regards_

_Professor Adrian Baker, Headmaster of Sainites Wizarding Academy of Magical Arts_

Harry was excited, he would be going to Sainites to study magic, and he would be making friends, not to mention that he would have much less trouble than he was in Hogwarts.

He checked his parchments, and he found that he had enough parchments for more than one term.

Hermione, on the other hand, noticed that she ran out of parchments, which means that she needs to get some from the school.

Soon enough, New Year's day arrived.

Everyone was excited, and Dan told Sirius he would be buying him some clothes over the next few days.

Sirius nodded.

So on the third of January, Dan left home with Sirius.

One hour later, they arrived back home, and Sirius got changed into his new clothes, while his robes were being washed.

"Only four days left until you get to school, Harry," he said.

"The Marauder's Map is no use to me anymore, I think," Harry said.

"What do you mean?" asked Sirius. "Are you still in possession of it?"

Harry nodded.

"Fred and George gave it to me during my third year at Hogwarts," he said.

"That map was confiscated by Mr Filch years ago," Sirius said. "Fred and George must have taken it from Filch's office."

Harry nodded.

He went to his trunk, pulled out the Marauder's Map and gave it to Sirius.

"Did Fred and George tell you how to use it?" asked Sirius.

Harry nodded.

"You definitely won't be needing it, since that map was Hogwarts map," Sirius said.

"Once I get to Sainites, there won't be any need to monitor what happened at Hogwarts, since I will most likely be busy studying most of the time," Harry said.

In the end, they threw the map into the bin.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

**The First Few Days in Sainites**

Disclaimer: Everything in Harry Potter universe belongs to J.K. Rowling. I got nothing out of this except for enjoyment.

As the first school term of Sainites Academy was drawing nearer, Harry and Hermione wondered if they were going to be sorted into houses.

On the 8th of January, Harry and Hermione arrived at Sainites at five o'clock in the afternoon, they brought their trunks with them, just in case if they need it.

They saw a crowd of students in front of them entering the school grounds. They followed them, arriving at the school entrance.

A man stood in front of the entrance, with a paper in his hand, and he looked up, saw the students, then he pulled out his wand, and waved it the trunks that the students were carrying, and then the trunks were labelled with their names.

The second wave of his wand, the trunks vanished.

"To everyone who is here the first time, don't worry about your trunks, they are in the trunk shelf, which is located in the common room, and I will show you where it is later."

"When are we going to enter this school?" asked a first-year student.

"We will wait for another fifteen minutes, this allows the others to arrive," he said, and he stared at the list. "Three more to come."

Fifteen minutes later, three more students appeared.

Then the man glanced at the list again and said:

"Now everyone, please follow me."

The students followed him, and they arrived in the Hall.

The Hall was almost as big as a fast-food restaurant, and there were tables of all shapes, circle tables, square tables and rectangle tables, and they were not all in the same colour either. There was a long, brown table at the end of the Hall, reserved for staff.

A few feet away from the brown table was a black table, slightly shorter than the brown table in length.

As soon as everyone took their seats, they waited for a few minutes.

Harry looked at his watch, discovering that there was still ten minutes left.

A man in his seventies stood up.

"Welcome to another year at Sainites. To those of you who do not know me, my name is Professor Adrian Baker, the Headmaster of this school."

He paused.

"If this is the first time that you arrived at this school, please remain in the Hall after the feast, this include but not limited to first-year students, except if they repeat their first year."

Harry and Hermione knew that they would be required to remain the Hall after the feast.

Harry looked up again, and he saw that the man who was leading the students to the hall was standing on the right side of the Headmaster.

"To all the first years, and any students who had just transferred here," the Headmaster said. "The school rules are placed on the wall of the student common rooms, and students can observe them. The common rooms can be used for studying."

At this point, Harry wondered how many common rooms this school had.

He checked his watch, discovering that there are five minutes to half-past five.

"The feast will start in five minutes," the Headmaster said, and he pointed at one side of the hall.

A long table appeared.

Then he whispered something to his fellow staff, and he went into a door behind him and vanished.

Five minutes later, the door behind the staff table opened, and a group of people appeared, wearing gloves, and taking dishes and dishes of foods, and placed them on the black table, and then walked back to the door, and disappeared.

The Headmaster got to his feet again, his eyes gazed on all the students in the hall.

"Now you may come and take your plate and fill it with food, and go back to your table to eat," he said.

The students got to their feet, and they formed a line, taking food as they reached them, and then they walked back to their table and began to eat.

After everyone had eaten, a few students went back to the long table, to take another serve of foods, and they went back to their table and started eating again.

Meanwhile, someone had patted Harry.

"You can go and get some more food if you want them."

Harry turned around and saw a boy with black hair was patting him.

"I don't want to eat any more of it," Harry said. "If there are desserts later I will have some."

"The dessert will come later," the boy with the black hair said.

"What's your name?" asked Harry.

"Herbert Weaver," the boy with the black hair said.

"Nice to meet you, my name is Harry Potter," Harry said.

"You don't seem to look like a first year, though," Herbert said.

"That's right, I and my friend transferred here for my fifth-year magical education," Harry said.

"Who's the girl sitting beside you?" asked Herbert.

"Hermione Granger, she's my friend," Harry said.

Herbert smiled, and he felt grateful that he had met two new students.

"What had made you two transfer here?" Herbert asked curiously.

"We didn't feel good about the previous magical school we attended," Harry said.

Herbert frowned, but he decided to not question Harry about the school he had attended before at the moment.

Half an hour later, the food had disappeared from the long table, and then, the chefs arrived again, placing the desserts on the table, then they left.

The students got to their feet, formed a line to get the desserts from the long table, then they had filled their plates with desserts, returned to their table and started eating again.

"What is the point for the students who had first arrived at this school to stay in the hall after the feast?" Harry asked.

"I have no idea, as I am not a transferring student," Herbert said. "You will know more details later."

After they had finished eating their dessert, Harry checked his watch again, discovering that it was a quarter past seven.

"We are usually dismissed from the start of term feast at half-past eight," Herbert said, seeing Harry checking his watch. "There's still one hour and fifteen minutes to go."

There was a short silence.

"What year are you?" Harry asked.

"I am only in my third year here," Herbert said. "I can hardly believe that there are students who had transferred here to be two years ahead of me."

"Had there been any transferring students in the past?" asked Hermione.

"I haven't seen any so far, apart from you two," Herbert replied.

Meanwhile, the other students around Harry, Hermione and Herbert, were talking as well, and Harry could not hear what they were on about.

He looked at the staff table, seeing that the staff members were talking to each other in whispers.

They talked for one hour, and then there were only fifteen minutes left until bedtime.

Then the Headmaster got to his feet.

"All right everyone, your beds awaits," he said. "If you had just transferred here or if this is your first year, remain in the hall, please, the rest of you, go to your dormitories."

The students got to their feet, and there were about two dozen students remained in the hall.

Professor Baker got to his feet as the students had left.

"Please raise your hands if you are not a first-year student," he said.

Harry and Hermione raised their hands.

"First years, follow Professor Carl Chambers; transferring students, stay here with me," Professor Baker said.

The first years got to their feet and left.

As soon as the first years had left, Professor Baker said:

"Come to the front you two."

Harry and Hermione walked to the front, and they wondered what would happen next.

Professor Baker took out two forms, handed on to Harry and one to Hermione.

Harry and Hermione glanced at the form, it was the Uniform Order form.

"You will need to purchase your uniforms this week," Professor Baker said.

Then he gave Harry and Hermione their timetables.

Harry and Hermione looked at their timetables, and they discovered that each lesson only appeared once on the timetable, and there are no classes on Monday.

"You won't be starting lessons until next week. This week is Observation Week," he said. "Be sure to check your timetable again next week, since it will be different, that each of your classes will happen several times per week, Monday will be filled, and it will remain so for the rest of this school year."

"That means we can learn something beforehand," Hermione said.

"Of course you can," Professor Baker said. "There's no need to start studying yet, as you will have plenty of time afterwards anyway."

Then he handed Harry and Hermione some parchments.

"Thanks, Professor," Hermione said.

"I have enough parchments, Professor," Harry said.

"You never know when you will be needing it," Professor Baker said. "Take it."

"Thanks," Harry said, taking the parchments from Professor Baker. "Anything else?"

"No, unless if you have questions," Professor Baker said.

"That's all for now," Harry said. "We can leave other questions until later."

Professor Baker beamed at Harry and Hermione.

"Very well, just follow me, I'll just show you where your dormitories are," he said.

They walked past the door behind the staff table, then they saw a long hallway.

Harry and Hermione walked slowly; since it was the first time they set foot in this hallway. As soon as they reached the end of the hallway, they saw several doors; three in front of them, one on their left, and one on their right.

The doors on their left labelled 'Girls Dormitory' while the door on their right labelled 'Boys Dormitory', whereas the doors ahead of them all labelled 'Common Room'.

Harry saw a button between the first door and the second door, labelled 'Attention'.

Professor Baker walked towards the button and pressed it.

A few students came out of both the doors from the left and the right.

"I want one of you from each dormitory to look after these two, Harry Potter and Hermione Granger," said Professor Baker, pointing at them as he introduced them to the students.

The students nodded.

"Follow them into the Dormitory, they will look after you," he said to Harry and Hermione.

Harry followed the boys into the Dormitory, and a moment later, the light was on. Then he saw lots of beds, and as he examined the dormitory, he saw a black square paint, with a white L on the wall, beside the door.

He didn't think about what that white L means; since he was tired.

"You can put your clothes in the box under the bed when you want to sleep, Harry," one boy said.

Harry looked under the bed, and he saw a box.

"Your name, please?" Harry said.

"Joshua Robinson," the boy said. "I'll introduce more people to you tomorrow."

Harry nodded, and then he began to take off his clothes, then he jumped onto the bed, and placed the blanket over himself.

A few moments later, everyone scrambled onto their beds, lied down, and then they closed their eyes.

One of the students walked to the door, put his hand on the white L, then the light gradually went off.

Then Harry knew what the white L does.

A moment later, he fell asleep.

o-o

On the following morning, Harry opened his eyes, went down from his bed

He pulled his clothes out of the box under the bed and put them on.

Then he went out of the dormitory and followed the others to the Hall for breakfast.

As soon as he arrived at the hall, he noticed that there was food placed on the long table as usual.

Harry took his plate, filled it, then he went and sat down on a chair, placed his filled plate on the table, and began to eat.

A moment later, Hermione arrived with her plate and sat down next to him.

"Did you get a good sleep last night?" Harry asked.

Hermione nodded.

After they had finished their breakfast, they took out their timetable and examined it.

"We have Charms first, ten o'clock," Hermione said. "We also have Defense Against the Dark Arts at quarter to two in the afternoon."

Harry took a glance at his watch.

"We still have forty-five minutes," he said.

"Let's go to the common room for a bit," Hermione said.

Together, they made their way to the common room.

As soon as they arrived, they noticed that several students had already arrived in the common room.

They sat down, and they glanced around the room, then they saw a shelf, labelled 'Trunk Shelf'.

"I wondered how many trunk shelves are there in this school," Harry said.

"What made you wonder that, Harry?" Hermione asked.

"If there are only two trunk shelves, what if there are too many trunks?" Harry asked.

"I bet the trunk shelves have Undetectable Extension Charm attached to it; so that you can fit in as many trunks as you like," replied Hermione.

"What?" asked Harry.

"Undetectable Extension Charm will extend the inside dimensions of an object without affecting the outside dimensions," Hermione explained.

A moment later, several students stared at them for a while, and then more students came in.

Joshua Robinson walked towards Harry.

"Do you want me to show you the Charms classroom?" he asked.

Harry hesitated, then he nodded.

"Come," Joshua said.

Harry and Hermione followed him out of the common room, and into the Hallway, then they reached a point where there's two staircases, one on the left and one on the right.

Joshua turned to the left staircase and went up one level.

Harry saw two doors, one labelled 'Charms Classroom', and one labelled 'Defense Against the Dark Arts Classroom'.

He checked his watch.

"We still have thirty-five minutes left until our class starts," he said.

"What are you going to do now?" asked Joshua.

Harry looked at the timetable again, and he saw that he have Herbology first thing on the following morning, and he also has Arithmancy, and Transfiguration that day.

"You can show us the location of Herbology class, Transfiguration and Arithmancy classes today," he said. "I mean, after all of today's classes."

Joshua nodded.

"I don't take Arithmancy, but I do know where the classroom is, as I came across it several times when I go to Muggle Studies class."

"You are a Pure-blood?" Harry asked.

"That's right," Joshua said. "But I am not saying that I am proud of being a Pure-blood, because I know that someone's Blood Status doesn't determine their character."

"Apart from Muggle Studies and the compulsory subjects, what else do you take?" asked Harry.

"Divination," said Joshua.

"I took Divination when I was in Hogwarts, but I don't think Divination is worth taking right now," Harry said immediately. "I hated it. The Divination teacher in Hogwarts keeps on predicting my death."

"I just think that teacher is a fraud," Hermione said. "I left before I even sat the first exam."

Joshua nodded.

"Everyone has their subject preference," he said simply.

o-o

At ten o'clock, Harry and Hermione arrived at the Charms classroom, and they found that several students had taken their seats.

"Is the teacher here yet?" Hermione asked.

"No," Joshua said. "Hopefully he will come in soon."

Ten minutes later, more students arrived, and then, a young man in his forties arrived.

As soon as everyone took their seats, the young man said:

"Good day everyone, my name is Professor Eric Collins."

There was a short silence.

"Your textbooks will be issued to you on Thursday in the Hall, announcements will be given on the same day," he said. "Also, since quite a few of you had just transferred here from another school, you would need additional textbooks, which will also be issued to you at that time."

"This week, you will not be receiving any written homework from any teachers, because your textbooks are yet to arrive," he went on. "The only homework you are going to receive from any teachers would be practical homework."

Hermione raised her hand.

"Miss -"

"- Granger, professor, isn't this year our Ordinary Wizarding Level year?" she asked.

"Yes, fifth years do take Ordinary Wizarding Level exams in this school," Professor Collins said. "Not to worry, I am going to get to that next week."

One hour later, the students were dismissed.

o-o

At a quarter to two in the afternoon, all the fifth year students stood at the door of the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, and a moment later, a young man who was in his thirties arrived, and he opened the door.

"Come in everyone," he said.

The students trooped in, and they took their seats.

"Good afternoon everyone, my name is Professor John Bailey," the young man said. "I would like to give you a little introduction to this course in a moment."

"I happen to know that a couple of you are transferring students, by the way," he went on. "Please stand up."

Harry and Hermione stood up.

"Now you may sit down," he said, and Harry and Hermione sat down.

"There have been several transferring students a few years ago, from a magical school called Durmstrang, in Bulgaria," he said. "Some of them are in this classroom right now."

Harry remembered what Draco Malfoy had said that Durmstrang teach students Dark Arts when he was on the train to Hogwarts for his fourth-year magical education, he couldn't help thinking how parents would feel about their children learning the Dark Arts.

"Since your textbooks are yet to arrive, you will not be receiving homework from me this week," Professor Bailey said. "This year, we will be learning more defensive spells, and you will be doing more practical work than last year."

Harry and Hermione both smiled.

"I do wonder if he is better than Lupin," Harry said in a whisper.

"I just hope that he is not worse than Lupin," said Hermione.

"Hey, maybe we could ask the other students about this teacher," said Harry.

"That sounds like a good idea, Harry," Hermione said.

As soon as they arrived back to the common room, they asked Joshua about Professor Bailey.

"He's quite good, to be honest," Joshua said. "I have been in his class for four years, and his way of teaching is quite outstanding."

Then Joshua showed Harry and Hermione the location of the classrooms that are on their timetable.

"Hopefully you won't get lost," he said.

o-o

After dinner, Harry and Hermione made their way to the library.

The library was full of students, they were reading books, and some of them were picking books to take out of the library.

Harry wandered around the library, and he realised that there's no restricted section, so he assumed that there were no books that are inappropriate to younger students.

He took out a book, and glanced at the title, which says 'A History of Sainites Academy of Magical Arts'.

He sat down and started reading.

After he read a few pages, the librarian, Elizabeth Jennings announced that the library will be closed soon.

Harry quickly went to the counter, checked out the book he was reading, then he placed it in his bag.

After that, he turned around, and he saw Hermione catching up with him. Together, they walked out of the library and made their way to their dormitory.

"Goodnight, Harry," Hermione said as they reached their dormitories.

"Goodnight, Hermione," Harry said.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

**The Rest of the Week**

Disclaimer: Everything in Harry Potter universe belongs to J.K. Rowling. I got nothing out of this except for enjoyment.

Harry woke up on the following morning, got dressed, and went down to the Hall for breakfast.

After breakfast, he and Hermione headed to the Herbology greenhouse. As soon as they arrived at the greenhouse, they saw a woman in her thirties stood near a corner.

The woman smiled at them, and then more students arrived in succession.

Then the woman counted the students, then she beamed at the class and said:

"Good morning everyone, my name is Professor Adaline Whitlock, and welcome back to my class."

"So," she said. "I have been notified that there are two of you that are new to this school, please raise your hands."

Harry and Hermione both raised their hands.

"Okay, now I know that it is you," Professor Whitlock said. "Now you can put your hands down."

Harry and Hermione put their hands down, and they glanced at Professor Whitlock.

"Since your textbooks had not arrived yet, you will be receiving no homework from me for this entire week," Professor Whitlock said. "Besides, this year, you will be having Ordinary Wizarding Level exams at the end of the year, in which you will be needing to progress to Ultimate Wizarding Standard class in your sixth year."

Hermione raised her hand.

"Yes, Miss Granger?" Professor Whitlock asked.

"What do you mean by Ultimate Wizarding Standard?" Hermione asked.

"The exam that you take in your sixth year," Professor Whitlock answered.

"What about the seventh year?" asked Hermione.

"To answer your question, there are no seventh-year classes in this school," said Professor Whitlock. "There's only six years of study in this school. But if you want to take advanced training courses, you may stay in this school for another two to three years or so after your sixth-year study, but you will need to inform us if you wish to do so."

Hermione nodded.

"The advanced training courses are not full-time courses anyway, they are part-time course, where you only come here a few days a week, and only a few graduates do that," Professor Whitlock said. "Similar training courses can be enrolled in the Ministry of Magic."

o-o

After the break, Harry and Hermione went to their Transfiguration class. As soon as they entered, they saw a man with black hair, he looked like as if he was in his early forties, his blue eyes gazing at the students who had just arrived, and his face appeared to be radiant.

A few minutes later, all the students had arrived.

"Good morning, my name is Professor Jeffrey Wagner, let's start our class," the man in the black hair said.

There was a moment of silence.

"This week, you will only be receiving practical homework from me," he said.

"Today we will start to learn Vanishing Spell," Professor Wagner said. "This is one of the complex spells that you will be tested in your OWL exam. Vanishing Spell is easier than Conjuring Spell, which you would not be attempting until you reach Ultimate Wizarding Standard."

Then Professor Wagner divided the students into pairs to practise.

It was not easy, Harry tried it again and again, and he still had trouble vanishing his slug. Hermione, however, had succeeded in vanishing her slug in her fifth attempt.

Apart from Hermione, Joshua was another one who had gotten hold of this spell.

After the class, Professor Wagner said.

"There's no need to worry if you cannot get it yet, so, homework, practise the Vanishing Spell, and if you need help from me, ask me."

Then the students left the Transfiguration classroom.

o-o

Harry was looking forward to Arithmancy, which would take place during the afternoon, so after lunch, he and Hermione arrived at the Arithmancy classroom. As soon as they entered the classroom, they realised that a few students had already taken their seats.

A few moments later, more students arrived and took their seats.

They waited for a few more minutes, and they saw a woman with golden hair arrived inside the classroom and walked to her desk. Harry and Hermione glanced at her, and they knew that she must be the professor of Arithmancy in this school.

The woman with golden hair stood at her desk, and she glanced at the students blissfully.

"Good afternoon everyone," she said. "For those of you who don't know me, my name is Professor Janet Santos."

There was a short silence.

"I happen to know that two of the students in this room are transferred from another school known as Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," she said. "One out of the two had never even taken Arithmancy before."

Harry knew that she was talking about him, in fact, it was true that he had never taken Arithmancy in Hogwarts.

"Not to worry, though," Professor Santos said. "I happen to know that you had passed the test with a satisfactory mark, and if you work harder, you will also pass your OWL on this subject this year."

"Arithmancy, in short, is a magical discipline that studies the properties of numbers," she said, "including predicting the future with numbers and numerology."

Harry let out a soft gasp, and he felt that he knew why Hermione had dropped Divination. He hated Divination too, except that he didn't know what Divination is really like in this school.

He felt that facing someone like Voldemort would be counted as the same thing of using an egg to smash a rock, and he knew that this wouldn't happen to him again.

o-o

As soon as Harry and Hermione went back to the common room, they sat down.

Harry wondered whether Professor Trelawney would be able to predict such a thing that there is a copy of him attending Hogwarts, as he knew that she was a seer. He, however, was confident that at least his parents would take care of this situation.

He felt that it would be best to not say it in front of Hermione, at least until he asked his parents about it.

Then something occurred to him.

"Shall we fill in our uniform order form?" he asked.

"Oh yes, we better get a move on, we can't wear our clothes from next week," Hermione said.

Together, they went to Professor Baker's office to fill the form in.

"I'll take you both to the uniform shop, so you can buy them," he said. "You can fill in the size later."

Harry and Hermione followed Professor Baker into the uniform shop.

The uniform seller, Gary McCoy invited them in.

"What size?" he asked.

"Fifteen," Harry said.

"Sixteen," Hermione said.

"Hermione Granger, you go out first, I'll fit Harry, and then I will call you, all right?" Gary asked.

Hermione nodded, and she walked out of the uniform shop.

Then Gary took out the uniform for Harry.

"Go to the fitting room and try it out," he said. "On your right."

Harry nodded, and he took the uniform, entered the fitting room, and closed the door.

Three minutes later, he came out.

"They all fit me," he said.

"This is in total seven Galleons and five Sickles," Gary said.

Harry paid the money, thanked Gary, and walked out of the uniform shop.

"Your turn, Hermione," Professor Baker said.

"I'll meet you back in the common room, Hermione," Harry said, as Hermione walked into the uniform shop, then he made his way back to the common room.

Fifteen minutes later, Hermione arrived back into the common room.

"This means we can wear our uniform from now on while we are still in school," she said to Harry.

o-o

"Harry, Hermione, good to see that you two had got your uniforms," Joshua said during dinner time.

"We bought it this afternoon," Harry said.

After they finished eating, they made their way back to the common room.

As soon as they approached the door of the common room, they heard some noise inside.

"What's going on?" asked Harry.

"I have no idea," Hermione replied. "Let's go and have a look."

Just then, the door in front of them was opened, and a boy walked out of the door, in loud stamps, and a moment later, another boy ran out of the door.

Harry and Hermione entered the common room and sat down.

About one minute later, they heard shouting coming from outside the common room.

"What is the matter with you two?"

"He always says that I am unworthy, and I hated it."

"That's because you are so lazy, and you always ask me to help you to get your homework done."

At this point, Harry wanted to know what is going on, and he got up, wanting to get out of the common room and see what had happened.

"Where are you going, Harry?" Hermione asked.

"I want to see what's going on," Harry said.

"Wait a moment, Harry."

Harry turned, and he saw Herbert's eyes were on him.

"What?" he asked.

"Some students in this school are little troublemakers, but don't worry, they will get better as time goes on," Herbert said. "Those two students had caused a good amount of trouble for the past few years."

"What year are they in?" asked Harry.

"Same year as me," replied Herbert.

"Did the teachers discipline them when they cause troubles?" asked Harry.

"Numerous times during the past two years," Herbert replied. "I do hope that they cause less trouble this year."

Harry smiled.

"I hope so," he said.

o-o

On the following day, Harry and Hermione had Ancient Runes at ten o'clock, and since they had a period off, they went back to their common room after breakfast.

The common room was crowded but quiet, several students were sitting on the chairs, waiting to go to the next class.

"Today is the day that we are going to get our textbooks," Hermione said.

"Good, then we can start studying," Harry said. "I knew that's what you have been longing for."

Hermione couldn't resist it.

"We have Potions this afternoon," she said, "and we have History of Magic on Friday morning."

"Next week's timetable is going to be different," Harry said. "There's no need to memorize the timetable for this week, honestly."

"That means we will have to check our timetable again next Monday," Hermione said.

"This leads me to a question," Harry said.

Then he cornered Herbert.

"Herbert, I want to ask you something about the timetable," Harry said to him.

"What do you want to ask me about the timetable, Harry?" Herbert asked.

"Will the class time in this timetable of this week stay the same for the rest of the year?" Harry asked.

"You mean will the subject stay in the same place, and the rest of the subject fills the timetable?" said Herbert. "In my experience, no, the class time will be completely different."

Just then, another boy stood up.

"Not for fifth and sixth years," he said. "From your fifth year onwards, the class time on the timetable will not change as of the first week, so whatever time you have your subject for the first week, it remains the same."

"You are a sixth-year student?" asked Hermione.

"That's right," the boy said. "By the way, my name is Sanford Sutton."

Harry turned to Hermione.

"Imagine if we had started our first year in this school, we would have to check our timetable on the second week, and we will have to memorise our timetable again," he said.

"The Headmaster informed us that the timetable will be different from the second week," said Hermione.

"But he didn't mention that the class time will change in the second week," said Harry.

"Maybe he didn't think he needs to mention that," said Hermione.

She took out the timetable and checked it again.

"Currently, our first period on Tuesday is blank, and the entire Monday slot is blank as well, so next Monday, we will have to check our timetable," she said.

o-o

At ten o'clock, Harry and Hermione made their way to the Ancient Runes classroom.

They noticed that a chubby man with black hair in his forties stood at the front desk as they walked to their seat and sat down.

They looked around and saw five students in the classroom.

A moment later, another three students arrived, and they sat down.

The chubby man with black hair looked up, and he checked the register.

"Good morning," he said. "Welcome to Ancient Runes again."

There was a short silence.

"We do have two new students joining us this year," he said. "Harry Potter, and Hermione Granger. Welcome, my name is Professor Bernie Hampton."

Several students glanced around, and they stared at Harry and Hermione for a moment.

"This year, we will cover Rune translations, and Runic scripts, etc, and most of it will be coming up in your Ordinary Wizarding Level exam," said Professor Hampton. "You will be graded from each test you sit in this class according to Ordinary Wizarding Level exam grades."

Although Harry had never taken Ancient Runes before, he didn't feel too nervous about this subject, as he felt that if he studied harder, he should be able to pass this subject.

For the rest of the period, the students copied down the things that were on the blackboard.

At the end of the lesson, Professor Hampton said:

"As I know all of you did not receive your textbooks yet, there will be no homework from me this week. Class dismissed."

o-o

As Harry and Hermione went back to their common room, a voice rang out.

_The textbooks will arrive at around three o'clock this afternoon, and it will be handed out in the Hall. The people who give out the textbooks will check your timetable to ensure that you receive all the textbooks you need._

"One hour after Potions," Harry said. "I don't suppose that the Potions teacher would have asked us to make potions in this case."

"They probably won't," said Hermione.

Just then, Joshua arrived in the common room, and at the same time, a question occurred to Harry.

"Joshua, I want to ask you, do the textbooks always arrive on Thursdays every year in this school?" he asked.

"No, normally the textbooks arrive on Tuesday afternoon," Joshua said, "just like last year."

"It also depends on if new students are transferring to this school or not," said Herbert. "When I was in my first year, the textbooks arrived on Friday afternoon in the first week."

o-o

Five minutes before quarter to two in the afternoon, Harry and Hermione made their way to the Potions classroom, and they saw a woman standing at the desk.

As soon as they took their seats, they glanced around and saw that five other students had already sat down.

Harry and Hermione waited, and then the woman got to her feet.

"Good afternoon everyone," she said, "welcome back to your fifth-year Potions class."

There was a short silence.

"I happen to know that a few new students are joining us this year," she said. "Harry James Potter and Hermione Jean Granger, they were transferred from Hogwarts. Welcome, my name is Professor Brenda Warner."

"This year, we will be brewing new potions, and some of them will come up in your OWL exams," she said. "We are not going to brew any potions today, as I was notified that none of you had your textbooks yet, and you won't be receiving homework from me until next week."

Harry was thinking about the Potions lessons that Snape had given him, it was not pleasant, but he knew that such things would never happen in this school, so he continued to gaze his eyes upon Professor Warner.

"Right now, since we still had time, I want to hear from our new students about their experience in this subject," she said.

Harry didn't know what to say, as his previous experience of potions class were not enjoyable, but he didn't think it was a good idea to resist telling Professor Warner about it.

Hermione, however, burst into speech almost immediately, and she told Professor Warner her experience of the Potions class she had taken, and it took her over half an hour to finish speaking.

"Incredible," Professor Warner said. "It does sound like that the teacher who had previously taught you potions were biased. If you need anything from me, come to me and ask."

"Now you are dismissed," she said finally.

o-o

At three o'clock, Harry and Hermione arrived at the Hall, and they saw that there were six tables, a large crowd of students grouped in six lines, and they are waiting, and a professor was sitting at the end of each table.

Joshua found them, and he said.

"Come here, you two, stand behind me."

Harry and Hermione stood behind Joshua and waited.

As soon as it was their turn, they saw Professor Collins.

"Mr Potter, here are your books," he said, giving him a large bag. "This bag is not heavy, it is bewitched with a feather charm."

Harry took the bag, realising that it was indeed light enough for him to carry.

"Thanks," he said.

Then he turned to Hermione.

"I'll meet you back in the common room," he said, and Hermione nodded.

Then he quietly left the Hall.

As soon as he reached the common room, he opened the bag, took out the books, and placed it in his bag.

He lifted it, and then he realised that it was not too heavy, thanks to the fact that he didn't take too many subjects.

Just as he took out a textbook and started to read, Hermione arrived.

She took her books out from the bag she was carrying, and placed them into her bag.

"I don't think we can catch up with all of what we will be learning," she said.

"Just as long as we can catch up with the next topic we are going to learn in class, that will be okay," Harry said. "We can, of course, learn a bit more than that, if time permits."

"All right," Hermione said.

o-o

On the following morning, Harry and Hermione made their way to the History of Magic classroom after breakfast.

"I hope that this teacher would not be a boring one," Harry said.

"We shall see," Hermione said.

As soon as they had entered the classroom, they saw a handsome young man in his forties stood by the desk, he had black hair.

Harry and Hermione glanced around, and they realised that they are the only two people inside the room.

Then turned to the young man.

"Hello, you two, I happen to know that both of you are transferred from another school, called Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," the young man said. "My name is Professor Craig Holland."

"Where are the others?" Hermione asked.

"It's not time yet, you two just arrived here a bit early," Professor Holland said.

A moment later, five students arrived, including Joshua.

A few more minutes passed, more than twenty students arrived.

Professor Holland got to his feet.

"Now we can start," he said.

There was a short silence.

"Since you had just received your textbooks yesterday, I am not going to give you any homework today, but I do suggest you take a look at your textbook over the weekend," he said.

Then he lectured the students about the famous Wizards in Canada over the years.

Harry still found it not as interesting as he had expected, although he had decided to look up in his textbook to see what's really inside it.

After the class, Harry and Hermione went back to the common room.

Harry opened his bag, and took out the book called 'Wizards Accounts'.

Then he opened it and started reading.

"Don't forget that we have Vanishing Spell to practise, Harry," Hermione said.

"I'll bear that in mind," Harry said.

He looked around and saw Joshua, then he walked towards him.

"Yes, Harry?" Joshua said.

"How do you feel about the History of Magic class?" Harry asked.

"Not too bad, although I have to admit it is not as interesting as all the other subjects in this school," Joshua said.

"You know, in Hogwarts, it was a ghost who was teaching History of Magic," Harry said.

Joshua gasped.

"And how did you feel about that, Harry?" he asked blankly.

"Boring," Harry said.

He began to practise the Vanishing Spell on a parchment, again and again, he failed, but after some attempts, he had managed to vanish one of his parchments.

Hermione looked at him and giggled.

"Vanishing a parchment, you got to be joking, Harry," she said.

"What else should I vanish, Hermione?" asked Harry.

"I don't know," Hermione said. "By the way, do you think you have mastered this spell, Harry?"

"Yes, unless if there is something more difficult to vanish than a parchment," Harry said.

Hermione giggled again.

"There must be," she said. "Do you think you can vanish something that the Transfiguration Professor gives you in our next Transfiguration class?"

"I don't have many objects to vanish anyway," he said quietly. "Excuse me, I can't just practise like that, maybe I could ask the Transfiguration Professor for something to vanish."

"Why didn't Professor Wagner give every student something to practise the Vanishing Spell on?" Hermione asked.

"Why should he?" said a voice.

Harry and Hermione looked up and saw a boy with golden hair.

"What is your name?" Harry asked.

"Bart Pena," the boy said.

"So you think that there's no need for Professor Wagner to give each student something to practise the Vanishing Spell on?" asked Harry.

"Maybe we can just vanish something from the rubbish bin," another voice said.

Harry turned, and he saw a girl with long black hair.

"What do you think?" she asked.

"Sounds funny," Harry said. "By the way, what is your name?"

"Alma Fleming," the girl said.

"Stop that, Alma," Hermione said in a rather serious voice. "You want the rubbish bin to be empty?"

"I didn't mean that," Alma said. "Just vanish something from the rubbish bin, that's all."

"Shut up!" a voice said.

Harry and Hermione looked around and saw Joshua.

"Harry, Hermione, come with me for a moment," he said.

Harry and Hermione followed Joshua out of the door, and they closed it.

"I want to tell you something," Joshua said. "Alma is a very funny joker, don't talk with her about anything serious or important, because she would turn anything serious into a joke."

"Does she prank people?" asked Hermione.

"Yes, both her parents are amateur pranksters," replied Joshua.

"This is not the first time I ever met a prankster," Harry said, and he went on and explained about Fred and George.

Hermione suddenly remembered something.

"By the way, Joshua, since we all arrive in this school by portkeys, don't you think Muggles or Squibs would get here too?" she asked.

"Should this ever occur, they would most likely be discovered and sent back home," Joshua answered. "It is too easy to tell whether someone has magical powers or not. If they don't carry a wand, they will be asked to purchase one, and if they were found out to be Squibs or Muggles, they would be sent home."

"What about students who have younger siblings with magical powers but not yet old enough to attend this school arrived here?" Harry asked.

"No one would dare do this either. If they ever being discovered, they will be sent home," Joshua answered. "This school keeps a list of names, and the staff can identify who tries to sneak in. If a staff calls someone, and someone else went up instead, their name would blink on the parchment."

o-o

Harry and Hermione spent most of the weekend in the library reading their textbooks, and they had swallowed some of the contents inside it, although they still walked together with other students outside in the school grounds, enjoying the sunshine and fresh air for a few hours.

They had been careful not to reveal anything about the fact that there are copies of them living in another country to anyone in the school, or else it would bring unpleasant consequences, although they wondered what happened to their clones.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

**The Official Week**

Disclaimer: Everything in Harry Potter universe belongs to J.K. Rowling. I got nothing out of this except for enjoyment.

On Monday morning, Harry got up and dressed, then he walked out of his dormitory, and made his way to the Hall.

As soon as he entered the Hall, he filled his plate with food, and then he sat down at a table, placed the plate of food in front of him, and began to eat.

A moment later, a few students arrived, and sat on either side of him, and then Hermione arrived, taking a seat opposite him.

As soon as Harry finished eating, he checked their timetable.

"We have Defense Against the Dark Arts first, at nine o'clock," Harry said.

Then he checked his watch.

"We have ten minutes until our next class starts," he said. "Let's go."

He and Hermione set off for the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.

As soon as they arrived at the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, they took their seats, focused their eyes to the front.

They saw Professor Bailey sitting at his desk, looking down at a stack of papers, and he looked up.

A few moments later, more students arrived.

Harry glanced at his watch again, discovering that there are only two minutes left.

As he looked up again, over another dozen students arrived in the classroom.

"Let's start our class now," Professor Bailey said, standing up.

"From this week onwards, you will be receiving homework from me, as I believe that you had all received your textbooks."

There was a short silence, and then some students whispered to each other.

Professor Bailey went on as if he did not hear them.

"The spell that we are going to learn today, is known as the Encase Spell. If anyone gets hit by this spell, they will see themselves as if they are in an empty room with no doors, and they can no longer see the spellcaster, although the spellcaster and others can still see them."

Hermione put up her hand.

"Yes, Miss Granger?" Professor Bailey said.

"Professor, if anyone got hit by this spell, would they be able to use other spells to break the effect of this spell?" Hermione asked.

"No," Professor Bailey said. "Whoever is under this spell would not be able to cast spells at the spellcaster."

There was a short pause.

"The incantation for this spell is _Encatio Wagisio,_" he said. "I do have to warn you, though, that this spell may not be as easy as you think, it will not work if you use the wrong movement, or pronounced it wrong."

Then he demonstrated the wand movement of this spell, which is a quick little swish.

"Now, I want everyone to divide into pairs to practise," he said.

As soon as everyone had divided into pairs, they started to use this spell on each other.

The spell was difficult, even Harry and Hermione had not succeeded in casting this spell, and by the end of the lesson, no one had mastered this spell.

After the lesson, Professor Bailey asked the students to practise this spell for homework.

Harry and Hermione were frustrated as they walked out of the door.

"We have to master this spell, not just for the sake of homework, but preparing ourselves in case if we need it," Harry said.

"I remember I saw this spell in my textbook," Hermione said. "Hopefully I will get it soon."

They checked their timetable again, and they discovered that they had Transfiguration next.

Together, they set off for the Transfiguration classroom.

As soon as they arrived at the door of the Transfiguration classroom, they discovered that a small number of students were waiting.

"The teacher is not here yet," Joshua said to Harry.

A moment later, more students had arrived.

And then, Harry and Hermione heard footsteps behind them. Curious, they looked around, and they saw the black-haired, blue-eyed wizard had arrived.

He pulled out his wand and pointed at the door.

The door burst open.

Then the students orderly entered the classroom, and took their seats, while the Transfiguration Professor walked to his desk.

"Let's divide into pairs to practise the Vanishing Spell again," he said.

This time, Harry completely vanished his slug in his third attempt, since he had been practising over the weekend.

Professor Wagner smiled at Harry, and he went to assist the other students.

At the end of the class, only six students managed to vanish their slugs, including Harry and Hermione

Hermione smiled at Harry as they walked out of the classroom.

"You've got it, Harry," she whispered.

Then they checked their timetable again.

"We have a free period after the break, then we have Ancient Runes," Hermione said.

o-o

After the break, Harry and Hermione went back to the common room, and they saw a good number of fifth years inside.

"Looking forward to Runes, Harry?" Hermione asked as she and Harry took their seats.

"Yes," Harry replied.

He thought back about what was going on at Hogwarts, and he wondered how people had reacted about the things that had been reported in the Quibbler, about Voldemort's return.

He hoped that his parents have the answer.

He pulled out his Runes textbook and began to read.

After about half an hour, he closed his book, stood up, and walked around for a while.

Then he checked his watch.

"Ten minutes left until Ancient Runes," he said.

"Let's get going, then," Hermione said.

Together, they made their way to the Ancient Runes classroom.

Professor Hampton spent the entire class lecturing about rune translations, and he asked the students to write runes on parchments, and translate them.

Hermione grasped it almost at once, and her quill flew across her parchment almost endlessly. Harry, however, paused somewhere, but then he continued writing after a short while.

At the end of the class, Professor Hampton handed each student an article in English, asking them to translate it to runes, to be handed in on the following Monday.

"How do you feel about this subject, Harry?" Hermione asked with a slight concern.

"Quite interesting," Harry replied.

Then they checked their timetable again, discovering that they have Double Arithmancy in the afternoon.

"I should be able to manage it," Harry said.

o-o

During the afternoon, Harry and Hermione arrived at the Arithmancy classroom. Seeing that the door of the classroom was open, they entered.

Several students had already arrived, but the teacher was not there yet, and the classroom was quiet.

As soon as Harry and Hermione took their seats, they took out their textbooks and placed them on their desks.

Five minutes later, several more students arrived, and then they sat down, and after a while, Professor Santos arrived.

"Good day everyone," she said. "Let's start."

Then she went over the magical properties of numbers with the students.

Harry listened to Professor Santos during the entire double period, and he felt it was indeed much better, and much logical than Divination.

At the end of the class, Harry and Hermione walked out of the classroom, and then he suddenly understood why Hermione had said that Divination class was 'absolute rubbish compared to Arithmancy' in her third year at Hogwarts.

"How do you feel about this class, Harry?" Hermione asked.

"Never better," Harry replied quietly.

As they made their way to the common room, they saw a few students fighting, but they ignored it, and crept past them, as they didn't want to get into trouble, particularly Harry, who had gotten into too much trouble already since he was in Hogwarts. He wanted to make sure he gets in as less trouble as possible in this new school since he didn't think that his chance of attending a new school with Hermione was an easy one, at least not as easy as simply escaping Britain on their own accord, and they had something to hide from everyone else.

o-o

A few days later, Harry and Hermione were both studying in the common room during the afternoon, and then they saw Hedwig landing beside them, carrying a letter.

Harry detached the letter from the owl, and the owl took flight again.

Then he examined the envelope, and he realised that it was addressed to him from Sirius.

He opened the envelope, took the letter out, unfolded it, and began to read.

_Dear Harry_

_Since you and Hermione have been to Sainites, I and your parents had not heard a single word about what happened in the school._

_Please write back._

_Thanks_

_Regards_

_Sirius Black_

Harry checked his watch.

"It's nearly dinner time," he said. "I'll write back to Sirius after dinner."

Hermione nodded.

"What did Sirius say?" she asked.

Harry handed the letter to her to read.

One minute later, she handed the letter back to him.

Then they made their way to the hall, took a plate, filled it with food, and sat down.

After they finished their dinner, they went back to the common room, and Harry took out a quill and a piece of parchment and began writing.

_Dear Sirius_

_Everything is fine in Sainites, although there had been a few counts of troubles happened in that school, both involving younger students fighting against each other._

_I and Hermione had found the school to be quite enjoyable, Arithmancy and Ancient Runes are quite favourable to me._

_During my first week, I had each subject only appearing once in my timetable, and so was everyone else's, which had given us some free periods, although we didn't receive our textbooks until Thursday._

_Regards_

_Harry Potter_

Putting his quill down, he took the letter, fetched Hedwig, and tied the letter to Hedwig's leg.

Then Hedwig took off.

Sighing, he knew that it was the first time that he had ever sent a letter home ever since he started this school. As he made his way back to the common room, he sat down, and then Joshua cornered him.

"What did you just do, Harry?" he asked.

"Sending a letter home," Harry replied. "This is the first time I ever did that since I arrived here."

"I don't usually write to our parents about what is happening inside the school," Joshua said. "Some students here do write to home quite often."

He paused.

"What about you, Hermione?" he asked.

"We are living in the same place, so there's only one of us who need to write home at one time," Hermione replied.

Joshua didn't know what he should say, so he nodded, and sat down.

"I write to home at least twice a week," said a voice.

Harry looked up and saw Herbert.

"Do you have any siblings?" he asked.

"I have a younger brother called Emmitt who will attend this school next year," Herbert said. "I also have an older sister called Amy, who was graduated after my first year here."

"And what is she doing now?" asked Harry.

"She has gotten a job at _Books and Magic _shop, checking books out," said Herbert.

Harry had never set foot in any Wizarding book shop in Canada, thus he thought it would be a good idea if he could just pop in and buy some books to read during his spare time.

"Have you been to that shop?" he asked.

"Several times," Herbert answered. "My parents took me there occasionally before my sister started working there."

"Maybe we could go and buy some books from there during the holidays," Harry said to Hermione.

"We could," Hermione said.

o-o

The following day was Friday, and Harry and Hermione had the afternoon period off on that day.

Harry and Hermione still haven't mastered the Encase spell, though they were practising it regularly. In the end, they decided to put this aside, and come back to it later.

After they had finished some of their homework (which took them about two hours), they decided to study again.

Harry took out his textbook, and then he began to study another chapter, whereas Hermione relaxed a little bit, then took out her textbook and began reading, too.

Half an hour later, they closed their books, placed them in their bags, then they walked down to the hall for dinner.

After dinner, they went back to the common room, and they sat down for a while.

However, they could hear noises coming from the next door.

Curious, they walked out of the common room, pushed open the door of the nearby common room. then they saw some students playing exploding snap.

Harry had been playing a few exploding snap games before, however, this was the first time that he saw students playing this game in Sainites.

"Maybe we could join them sometime later," Harry said.

"Maybe," Hermione said.

End of chapter


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

**New Friends**

Disclaimer: Everything in Harry Potter universe belongs to J.K. Rowling. I got nothing out of this except for enjoyment.

Since Harry and Hermione's time for studying was constricted, they did not waste the time on the following day. To either of them, studying was not optional.

Another fortnight had passed, Harry's knowledge of magical theory had been progressively sharpened, to the point that he didn't even need Hermione to check his work anymore. Hermione, meanwhile, didn't find this frustrating, rather, she was delighted that Harry became more independent in his study. He and Hermione had finally managed to master the Encase spell.

The classes that they were taking, in short, had become more interesting than before.

The questions that the Professors had asked in each of their lessons, were mostly answered by either Harry or Hermione, not to mention that they could answer them correctly.

After the final class on Friday, Harry and Hermione made their way to the hall for lunch, as they were eating, another girl arrived and sat down beside them. She had long, copper hair, and the colour of her eyes was rather hazel.

"Hello," she greeted. "Joyce Kennedy."

"Hello," Harry said. "Harry Potter."

"My name is Hermione Granger," Hermione said. "What year are you, Joyce?"

"I am in my fourth year," Joyce said. "What about you two?"

"Harry and I are in our fifth year," replied Hermione.

Joyce raised an eyebrow, but she decided to ask further after lunch.

After lunch, as Harry and Hermione arrived inside the common room, Joyce cornered them again.

"If you two are fifth-year students, that means you must have been transferred from another school to here," she said, "since I haven't seen either of you here in the past three years."

"That's right, we were transferred from the Wizarding Britain to here to continue our education, not only because we don't like our former magical school, but also the fact that the Wizarding world in that country was making false accusations and snide remarks about Harry over the Wizarding newspapers," Hermione said, not mentioning about Harry's parents' appearance since she didn't want Joyce to know that another copy of them was in Hogwarts.

"Imagine if I have been in that situation, I would have escaped too," Joyce said.

After dinner, the three of them went back to the common room, and they sat down.

"What snide remarks did the newspapers in the Wizarding Britain make about Harry?" Joyce asked Hermione.

"They were saying that Harry was like an arrogant, attention-seeking person," Hermione replied, then she went on, and told Joyce about their fourth year, about the Tri-Wizard Tournament, and how Harry was being selected as a Tri-Wizard champion, even though there were age restrictions for that tournament during that year.

Once she had finished, Joyce didn't know what to say.

A moment later, she recovered.

"I know about the Tri-Wizard Tournament, but I don't think it would take place in our school, as it is too dangerous," she said quietly.

"The Tournament was indeed dangerous," Harry said. "I was lucky that I survived it."

"So, you mean that you two came here to prevent Voldemort from getting you?" she asked.

"You could say that," Hermione said. "The Minister of Magic in Britain did not believe that Voldemort was back, and they would most likely pretend that nothing had happened."

"Which means that the Wizarding Britain is in danger right now," Joyce said.

"I don't think that the danger of Wizarding Britain is there yet," Hermione said. "The Headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore had established a secret organisation called the Order of the Phoenix, opposing Voldemort and his supporters, known as Death Eaters."

Joyce sighed.

"Don't tell me that he is going to come and attack here," she said.

"We are perfectly safe here by the way," Harry said, and he hoped that it would comfort Joyce. "Hopefully Dumbledore will do something about Voldemort and the Death Eaters. Besides, Voldemort hadn't really attacked yet, since no one except for his followers were supposed to know that he was back, and my escape from him, plus the fact that I had told Dumbledore about this, caused the Order of the Phoenix to reform, and it had somehow delayed Voldemort from attacking out on the open too soon. In other words, he's acting undercover."

Joyce glanced at Harry for a moment, and then she nodded.

"Did Dumbledore believe you?" she asked.

Harry nodded.

"So that means the Wizarding newspaper in Britain has also made snide remarks about Dumbledore," Joyce said.

"From what I know, Dumbledore was in a lot of trouble, he was discredited from some of his positions," Harry said, and then Joyce stood up. "I don't have to care what happens now, given that I am out of the way already."

"I'll be back," Joyce said, and then she left the common room.

"It is a good thing that you didn't mention anything about my fame," Harry said.

"I know you don't like your fame," Hermione said.

"It is a good thing that you never see me as the Boy Who Lived, Hermione," Harry said quietly.

A moment later, Joyce returned, and she sat down.

"Why doesn't someone just kill Voldemort?" she asked.

"Voldemort cannot be killed," Harry said. "That's what Dumbledore told me at the end of my first year in Hogwarts."

Then Joyce felt that it would be better to wait, so she changed the subject.

"How are you two doing in your studies?" she asked.

"We are working as hard as we can," Harry said.

"So am I," Joyce said. "What subjects are you taking, apart from the core subjects?"

"Arithmancy and Ancient Runes," Harry said.

"I am taking Care of Magical Creatures, as well as Divination," said Joyce. "It is no wonder that I didn't..."

She suddenly stopped.

"Are you saying that you didn't see us in your class? Well, you wouldn't see us anyway even if we had taken the subjects that you are taking, because we are in different years," Hermione said.

Joyce gasped.

"I shouldn't have said that, Hermione," she said.

"Never mind now," Hermione said.

"How do you feel about the subjects you took, Joyce?" Harry asked.

"Not bad at all," Joyce said.

Harry and Hermione turned to face each other for a moment.

"You know, Joyce, you are taking the same subjects I had taken in Hogwarts," Harry said. "Care of Magical Creatures was all right, but Divination was not that great."

"What's wrong with that subject?" Joyce asked.

"Too much guesswork," Hermione said. "I took it with Harry when we were in our third year at Hogwarts, but I left the classroom around Easter, as the teacher who was teaching this subject tends to say things that I don't believe. Even Arithmancy is better."

There was a short pause, and Joyce nodded.

"Some of my friends didn't take Divination at all, as they didn't feel like predicting the future," she said. "Some of them eventually dropped it after one year of taking it. Some students, however, felt that they could put up with it, so they stuck with it."

Then Harry and Hermione began to do their homework.

o-o

Harry and Hermione went down to dinner at five o'clock, and after they had finished, they returned to the common room.

Harry checked his watch, and he discovered that it was only twenty-five minutes past five.

A moment later, more students entered the common room.

Harry and Hermione suddenly heard running noises coming from outside the common room, and they were both curious about what was going on.

"Were there any people who are troublesome in Hogwarts?" Joyce asked.

"Yes," Harry said, then he went on, and told her about the Hogwarts houses, and the Slytherins.

"And why would the Headmaster of Hogwarts want to keep a teacher like Severus Snape in school?" Joyce asked.

"I don't know," Harry replied. "All I know is that he trusted Snape, and when I asked him how he knew that Snape stopped supporting Voldemort, he told me that this is between them."

"So now you've got another reason to not want to be in Hogwarts now," she said.

"The caretaker in Hogwarts, Argus Filch, also hated the students, and I don't know why the Headmaster wanted to keep him," Harry said. "Anyone could take the job of being a caretaker."

"So it seems better to avoid Hogwarts since there are too many problems," Joyce said. "This school would never allow Incompetent staff members."

"And this is a good thing," Harry said.

o-o

On the following morning, Harry woke up, got out of his bed and got dressed, then he walked down to the hall for breakfast.

After breakfast, Harry and Hermione went back to the common room, and they used another one and a half hour to finish off their homework.

After that, they placed their quills and parchments back into their bags, and they walked out of the common room.

A moment later, Joyce appeared.

"Where have you two been?" she asked.

"Common room," Harry replied. "We had just finished our homework."

"Oh well," Joyce said. "Come, I want to introduce you to some more friends of mine, hopefully, it won't consume too much time."

"All right," Hermione said, and she and Harry followed Joyce to the school grounds.

They walked through the hallway, and they went through the hall to the school grounds, and they saw a small squad of students sat under the tree, glancing at them.

"Joyce, finally you are here," a handsome boy with black hair said. "Who are these people behind you?"

"Harry Potter and Hermione Granger," Joyce said.

Harry and Hermione stepped forward and sat down with him.

"My name is John Lemus," the handsome boy with black hair said. "I am a sixth year."

Harry and Hermione didn't know what to say.

"You two are only one year behind me," John said. "I suppose you are studying hard, aren't you?"

"Yes, we are," Harry said.

"Have you finished your homework yet, John?" Hermione asked.

"I finished it last night," John said, nodding. "It was a little bit exhausting since it took me a bit longer to finish, and I end up on going to bed late."

"This happened to me in my third year at Hogwarts, I was exhausted because I took too many subjects," Hermione said.

"How many subjects did you choose during that time?" John asked.

"All of them," Hermione said.

John gasped, and then he laughed.

"Are you kidding me, Hermione?" he asked. "How on earth would you be able to fit all of them into your timetable?"

In silence, Hermione told John about the time turner that she had used in her third year.

"Even taking three classes at one time?" John said in amazement. "This isn't new to me."

"What do you mean?" asked Hermione.

"Numerous students had chosen to take all of the optional subjects for their third year in this school," John said, "I was one of them."

"Are you still keeping the time turner now?" Harry asked.

"Not anymore," John said. "I dropped a few subjects, so I had a normal timetable."

"You must be stressed by now, aren't you?" Hermione asked.

"That's right," John said.

"What grade did you get in your OWLs?" said Hermione.

"Two Exceeds Expectations, one Poor grade, and the rest are Outstanding grades," John answered.

"Hermione was also quite devoted to studying," Harry said, and he didn't want to ask what subject John had failed. "She always came top in Hogwarts."

Hermione blushed.

"And you would come top this year, too, Harry," she said in a whisper.

Harry smiled, then he turned to Joyce, who had not been speaking for the whole time.

"I was taking three subjects during my third year," Joyce said. "But I dropped Ancient Runes at the end of my third year; because I didn't like that subject, it feels like learning another language."

Neither Harry nor Hermione said anything about this, they looked at each other, and then they turned to Joyce again.

"So how do you feel about the teachers in this school, Harry?" Joyce asked.

"All of the teachers are competent," said Harry. "I enjoyed the classes."

They sat down under the tree for a while, watching the birds flying past them, and they were enjoying the landscapes of the school grounds and the fine weather.

They sat there for about two hours, and then they walked back to the hall.

Harry checked his watch, discovering that it was already past noon, and then he went and grabbed a plate, filled it with food, arrived back at the table and sat down.

After he had eaten, he slowly stood up, and he walked back to the common room.

A moment later, Hermione arrived and sat down next to him.

Hermione glanced around, and as soon as she made certain that no one was in the room, she turned to Harry.

"How long do you reckon it would take for the Minister of Magic in the Wizarding Britain to admit that Voldemort is back, Harry?" she asked quietly.

"Dunno, but I think it could be as long as Fudge catch sight of him," Harry replied.

o-o

Meanwhile, Sirius was chatting with Dan and Emma again, since Dan and Emma both had the day off.

"Harry and Hermione are both okay in Sainites," he said. "There's no point writing back to them."

He paced up and down the living room, and then he sat down on the sofa, looking outside at the passing cars and people.

"Wish I know if Sainites have school holiday in Easter," he said.

"You want them to come back and celebrate Easter with us?" asked Emma.

"Yes," said Sirius.

"If the Easter holiday of Sainites is not within the school holiday, we will have to wait until the school holiday arrives," Dan said.

Sirius nodded.

Then Dan checked his watch.

"It's nearly twelve, I'll go and make some lunch," he said.

Then he turned to leave, as Emma said in a clear voice: "Dan, do you need me to help you?"

"Not this time, I can manage it myself, it will be something simple," he said, and then he walked out of the living room.

Sirius and Emma sat in silence, and then Emma took the remote control and turned on the television.

Sirius heard a few news about certain criminal cases, including the cases of robbery, and murder in Britain, he wondered if it had anything to do with Voldemort.

If the cases are caused by the Death Eaters, it would not be easy for the Muggles to find out about it, and they might end up on blaming someone else.

He wished that no one would attack Canada.

After thirty-five minutes, Dan entered the room.

"Lunch is ready," he said.

"We are coming," Sirius said, then he and Emma stood up, and went to the dining room, and found a plate of sandwich on the dining table, and there were small plates at the front of each chair.

They sat down, and took a sandwich each, and began to eat.

After eating, Dan took the dishes out, and Sirius took out his wand, waved it, and the breadcrumbs on the table disappeared.

Then he and Emma went back to the living room and sat down again.

About fifteen minutes later, Dan entered the living room and sat down.

"I have to go shopping soon," Dan said, "as I need to buy the groceries for next week."

Sirius and Emma nodded.

A moment later, Dan got up.

"Anything you want me to buy, Emma?" he asked.

Emma shook her head.

"What about you, Sirius?" asked Dan.

Sirius shook his head.

"Very well, I will be back after a few hours," Dan said, and he walked out of the living room.

Sirius heard the door open and then closed again a moment later, knowing that Dan had left the house.

Dan arrived back about two hours later, took everything he had bought from the grocery store into the house. Sirius and Emma quickly helped him to put the groceries away into the right place.

End of Chapter


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

**An Accidental Spell**

Disclaimer: Everything in Harry Potter universe belongs to J.K. Rowling. I got nothing out of this except for enjoyment.

As soon as the groceries that Dan had bought were put into the right place, they sat down again.

Dan checked his watch.

"It's twenty-five minutes past three now," he could have muttered. "I will start cooking dinner two hours later."

Then he walked to the sofa and sat down.

"At the moment we are quite busy at our dental practice," he soliloquised. "We've got so much to do."

Emma nodded.

"Dan and I had several patients to take care of," she said. "We were so busy, and we have a full schedule of appointment from Monday to Friday next week."

"Which means that I am a handy person," Sirius said. "But I decided to get a job as well."

He glanced at the Wizarding newspaper.

"There are some positions open in the Wizarding shop, selling stuff, and there are a few open positions in the Ministry of Magic in this country," he said. "I am going to try and get one."

"Better than just staying home," Emma said.

"I'll send a letter to the Wizarding shop tomorrow," Sirius said. "Hopefully I can get a position."

Two hours later, Dan went to the kitchen and began to cook.

While Dan was cooking, Sirius turned to Emma.

"Shall I go and help Dan? I could use magic to help with some of the things," he said.

Emma let out a slight gasp.

"I certainly wouldn't mind, although I don't know what Dan will say," she said. "If he agrees, you could, otherwise don't do it."

Sirius nodded, and he walked to the kitchen.

"Hello Sirius, what are you doing here?" Dan asked.

"Maybe I can help you out for a bit," Sirius said, and he pulled out his wand.

Dan stared at him awkwardly.

Sirius waved his wand, then the salt appeared in front of Dan, and as Sirius waved it once more, a bunch of celery appeared.

"Don't tell me you let a bunch of celery to appear here from anywhere other than the fridge in this house," Dan said, and he walked to the fridge, and opened it.

Then he discovered that the celery he had bought were gone.

He arrived back, and then he began to break the celery apart.

Sirius walked out of the kitchen, as he felt that he may not be needed, that magic was a bit of an extra at this point.

_Maybe I can just summon the food when it is ready, _he thought.

Then he walked back to the living room.

"I knew Dan wouldn't need your help, Sirius," Emma said.

"Maybe I could just summon the food onto the dining table," Sirius said.

"There wouldn't be any need for that," Emma said.

She stood up and walked towards the door.

By six o'clock, the dinner was ready.

Sirius, Dan and Emma sat down on the table and began to eat.

After dinner, everyone sat on the sofa, and they didn't say anything for a long time.

"Have you received news about what happened to your clone?" Emma asked.

"Not recently," Sirius replied. "I also have no idea about how long it will take for the Ministry to realise that I am innocent."

There was a moment of silence.

"It is only going to be a few months left for Hogwarts year to end," he continued. "If the British Ministry still doesn't have any idea that Voldemort is back to power, the Wizarding Britain is going to be in trouble."

The rest of the evening passed without much of a conversation.

o-o

After dinner that evening, Harry and Hermione were on their way back to the common room, when a jet of white light shot straight at Hermione, causing her to fall to the ground.

Harry looked around and saw her on the ground.

A few other students arrived and saw the scene, and they took Hermione to the sickbay, just as a student appeared in front of Harry.

Then he ran off to assist the students who escorted Hermione to the sickbay.

Harry followed right behind him.

Sir Silva, the nurse, ushered them in, and he examined Hermione.

"Don't worry about her, she just needs some rest," he said.

The students who escorted Hermione left the sickbay, and they saw Harry, chatting with another student.

"Is that spell reversible?" he asked.

"Yes, but there won't be any need to reverse it, the effect goes away in a few hours," the other student said.

"Manual, you better be careful when you use a spell that you have created," one of the students said.

o-o

Dan and Emma had both left the house shortly after breakfast on the following morning, since they both had appointments in the morning, and will be back on midday. They had left some food for Sirius, just in case if they didn't arrive back on time since they realised that Sirius may not be too familiar with Muggle cooking yet, although they did try to teach him how to do it.

Sirius wrote a letter to a Wizarding Book shop for an appointment of a job interview, after he had written the letter, he wondered how he should send it to that shop since Muggle post method may not be able to make the letter to reach its destination.

He placed the letter inside an envelope and sealed it, then he wrote down the address, and placed it on the table beside his bed.

Then he started to feel bored, so he walked to the window, and glanced outside.

Ten minutes later, he wandered around the house.

Sirius sat on the bed, and he hoped that he would receive a response from the Wizarding shop that he had written to as soon as possible.

At noon, Sirius still didn't see the Grangers coming back, so he took the food that the Grangers had prepared for him, and started to eat.

After he had his lunch, he sat down and waited.

At two o'clock in the afternoon, he saw Hedwig.

He opened the window to let her in, and then he grabbed the letter from her leg, then he tied the letter he had written to her leg, telling her to send the letter to the Wizarding book shop that he had addressed to.

Then he laid back, and a sense of relief washed through him.

He looked at the letter he received, and then he noticed that it was from Harry.

After he had opened the envelope, he took out the letter and started to read.

_Dear Sirius_

_Things were going fine in school, except that Hermione had accidentally knocked into a spell cast by a sixth-year student, Manual Walker, after dinner time last evening, and he admitted that the spell he used was just for testing purpose. The school nurse says that she will be all right in a few more days._

_The staff members of the school had sorted Manual out, and they confirmed that this spell is a new spell that no one knows, it was obvious that Manual created that spell himself._

_Regards_

_Harry Potter_

Sirius put the letter down, and he sat down on the sofa.

He wondered how would Dan and Emma react if he tells them what happened to their daughter, although he knew that Hermione had knocked into that spell by accident.

Besides that, he knew that he would have to buy an owl, so he won't need to use someone else's owl to send letters, although he hoped that Harry wouldn't mind him using Hedwig at this time.

A few hours later, he heard a sound coming from the door, not a knocking sound, but a sound that someone opens the door with the keys.

A moment later, the door opened.

Sirius quickly went to the door to see what was going on, and as he reached the door, he saw Dan and Emma.

"Just encountered a traffic accident that held us back for more than ten minutes," Dan said, "or else we would have been back earlier."

Sirius went to the living room, glancing at the clock, then he noticed that the long hand is already pointing at seven.

"Dan, I received a letter from Harry this morning, saying that your daughter had knocked into a spell," he said.

"Where is that letter?" Dan asked.

Sirius went and fetched the letter, then he shoved it into Dan's hand.

"Read it," he said.

Dan glanced at it for a moment, and he said.

"I might have to write a letter to Harry, to see if he can give me any further details."

"I just sent a letter using Hedwig to a Wizarding shop," Sirius said. "A letter for getting a job there."

Dan turned slightly livid, and Emma didn't look too happy either.

"What's the matter?" Sirius asked.

"Do you think you did the right thing?" asked Emma, her expression glowering. "Harry sent you a letter saying that our daughter had been hit by a spell, and you used his owl to send a letter to the Wizarding shop to apply for a job?"

Sirius stared at Emma, unable to speak. He knew she was right, he should have waited before he uses Harry's owl to send a letter to the Wizarding shop.

"Guess I will need to buy an owl for myself, so I don't have to use his owl all the time," Sirius said.

"Fair enough, Sirius," Dan said.

"When are you going to buy it?" Emma asked.

"Soon," Sirius said.

"Do you even know any Wizarding shops that sell owls in this country?" Dan asked.

"I'll try and find out," Sirius said.

"From who?" Emma asked.

Sirius shook his head.

Emma sighed, and she wondered what Sirius was playing at.

"Very well, do what you need to do," she said.

o-o

Harry, meanwhile, was chatting with Joyce.

"How often does this sort of thing happen at this school?" he asked.

"Not very often," Joyce replied. "How often does this sort of thing happen in Hogwarts?"

"I haven't seen anything like this happened in Hogwarts so far, and I don't know if it happens there any time now or later," Harry replied.

He could not think of the evening that Hermione suddenly fell to the ground, and he realised that something had gone wrong.

Then the bell rang, and Harry checked his timetable, and he made his way to the appropriate classroom, which was Charms.

Professor Collins asked the students to put their homework he had assigned them onto their desks, and after that, he waved his wand, and the parchment fled to his desk, perfectly stacked into one pile.

"Now get out your Charms textbooks, everyone, and turn to chapter five," he said.

Harry unzipped his bag, and took out the Charms book, then turned to chapter five.

A few moments later, Professor Collins walked around the desks, after he had made sure that all the students are reading, he went back to his desk, and took the stack of parchments, and began marking them.

At the end of the lesson, Harry walked out of the class, and he hoped he wouldn't be getting a bad mark from Professor Collins.

Throughout the rest of the day, Harry hoped that he would receive a reply from Sirius soon enough.

After dinner time, as soon as Harry went back to the common room.

A few days later, Hedwig flew through the open window.

Harry detached the letter, and then Hedwig left.

Then he opened the letter and began to read.

_Dear Harry_

_I apologise for a mistake I had made, I used your owl to send a letter to a Wizarding shop to apply for a job when you told me about what happened to Hermione in your letter, I should have bought an owl for myself in the first place instead of using yours, or I should have waited until her parents sent a letter to you, asking about Hermione's condition._

_By the way, I got accepted, and I am starting work next Monday._

_P.S: I hope Hermione gets better soon._

_Regards_

_Sirius_

Harry didn't say anything, and he put the letter into his bag, and then he took out his book and began to read.

A moment later, several students entered the room and sat down.

"Harry!"

Harry turned around and saw Joshua, and Manual Walker stood next to him.

"Sorry about the accident spell that had hit your friend Hermione. I didn't mean for it to hit anyone," Manual said.

"All right," Harry said.

There was a short silence.

"Manual is very good at spell crafting," Joshua said.

"Do you find Arithmancy easy, Manual?" Harry asked.

Manual nodded.

"One of my favourite classes," he admitted. "I also take Ancient Runes."

"Is that all you take, apart from the compulsory subjects?" Harry asked.

"I also take Muggle Studies," Manual said.

"Are you a Pureblood?" asked Harry.

"No, I am a Halfblood," said Manual. "My mother was a Muggleborn, but she died when I was five years old. My father is a Pureblood."

"So your father raised you since you were five?" asked Harry.

Manual nodded.

Before anyone could say anything else, another girl entered the room, she had long, black hair, with blue eyes and white skin.

"Harry, this is Michelle Sanders," Manual said. "She's in the same year as me."

"Nice to see you, Michelle," Harry said, shaking hands with her. "Are you busy studying?"

Michelle nodded.

"Is fifth year in this school stressful?" Harry asked.

"Not a relaxing year," Michelle replied. "Neither would be the sixth year."

"I have only managed to finish my homework a few hours ago," said Manual.

"What about you, Michelle?" asked Harry.

"I took one less subject than Manual, so I finished off my homework a little earlier than him," Michelle replied. "How many subjects do you take, aside from the compulsory subjects, Harry?"

"Just Arithmancy and Ancient Runes," Harry replied.

Michelle didn't say anything else, she placed her arm around Manual's shoulder, walked away from Harry, then they quietly sat down together, as a few more students arrived.

Harry then continued to read the book that he was reading.

A few hours later, he was tired, so he closed the book, placed it back in his bag, and quietly left the common room.

o-o

Two days later, Hermione left the sickbay, fully recovered.

She found Harry in the common room, talking with some other students.

Harry lifted his head and saw her, then he quickly walked towards her.

"Are you feeling better?" he asked.

Hermione nodded.

"Let's go out for a walk, shall we?" Harry asked.

"I haven't finished my homework yet," Hermione said. "I assume you have finished yours."

Harry nodded.

"We don't have any practical homework at this time," he said.

"If you want to go for a walk, do it, but I can't go with you right now, since I need some time to finish my homework, maybe I could go for a walk with you later," Hermione said.

"All right," Harry said, not wanting to argue further about this. Very quietly, he walked out of the common room, making his way to the school grounds.

He saw a multitude of students, some of them sat down under the trees, having a conversation with one another, and some of them were walking in pairs or threes, and some were even whispering with one another.

He glanced around and saw Joyce sitting with Herbert, so he went over and joined them.

"Is Hermione okay?" Joyce asked.

"She has been discharged," Harry said.

A few hours later, lunchtime arrived, and he went back to the hall for lunch, and then Hermione arrived and sat down next to him.

"Finished your homework yet?" Harry asked her.

"Nearly," Hermione replied as Harry placed two potatoes on her plate.

"Thanks, Harry," Hermione said. "I'll help myself now."

After lunch, Harry went back to the common room with Hermione, and he sat down, pulled out a book from his bag, and started reading.

Half an hour later, Hermione stood up, and she placed her books and parchments back into her bag.

A moment later, Harry closed his book and put it in his bag.

Together, he and Hermione walked to the school grounds, and a few of their friends arrived and joined them.

A few hours later, Harry and Hermione went back to the common room.

Then Harry took a piece of parchment and a quill, and he began writing.

"What are you doing, Harry?" asked Hermione.

"Writing a letter to Sirius," Harry replied.

After he had finished writing the letter, he went and fetched Hedwig, and tied the letter on her leg.

"Take this to Sirius," he said.

He watched as Hedwig took off to deliver the letter.

Then he told Hermione that Sirius had found a job for himself.

"That's good, Harry," Hermione said.

End of chapter


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

**Murder News**

Disclaimer: Everything in Harry Potter universe belongs to J.K. Rowling. I got nothing out of this except for enjoyment.

The rest of the weekend passed without any incidents, a new week was about to start soon.

After breakfast on Monday morning, Harry and Hermione made their way to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.

As they arrived, they found that the door was open, so they entered.

Professor Bailey was sitting by his desk, and he glanced at them for a moment.

Hermione went to Professor Bailey's desk and handed her homework in.

"This homework is being handed back today, Miss Granger, I shall mark this tonight and hand it back to you in our next lesson," he said.

A moment later, several students entered the room and sat down.

"We will wait for another five minutes, and then we will start," Professor Bailey said.

Five minutes later, another group of students arrived in the classroom and took their seats.

"All right everyone," Professor Bailey said, handing back everyone's homework. "Most of you did pretty well in the homework you had handed to me last week."

Harry looked at his homework, discovering that he got an Exceeds Expectations grade.

Professor Bailey spent most of the class going over the theory of a new spell, called Throwing Spell, which would cause an opponent, be it human or animals, to be thrown into the air and fall onto the ground.

"This would be such a dangerous spell to practise on other people, Professor," Joshua said.

"This doesn't mean we cannot practise this spell here, I will be putting Cushioning Charm on the ground as we practise this spell on others," Professor Bailey said. "Be rest assured."

Joshua didn't say anything else, and he fell silent.

Professor Bailey then pulled out his wand and waved it at the ground.

"Let's see," he said. "Mark Garcia, I want you to come here for a demonstration."

A boy with black hair stood up and walked towards Professor Bailey.

"_Trafitio!_" Professor Bailey said, pointing his wand at Mark.

Mark was thrown into the air, and he landed down on the ground.

Several other students were shocked, but then Mark stood up.

"I am all right," he said.

"Now you may go back to your seat, Mr Garcia," Professor Bailey said.

The rest of the lesson passed with students practising the Throwing Spell. At the end of the lesson, no students had grasped the wand movement of the spell, not even Harry and Hermione.

"All right, your homework will be practising this spell," said Professor Bailey.

As soon as Harry and Hermione walked out of the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, they headed for their Transfiguration class.

As soon as they entered the classroom, Harry went and sat down, while Hermione took her homework and handed it to Professor Wagner, who told her he would mark hers this evening, then she went and sat down beside Harry, facing the front.

Professor Wagner was sitting at his desk, his eyes were fixed on a sheet of paper, it was apparent that he was marking something.

As more students arrived, Professor Wagner got to his feet and started lecturing the class.

The class passed rather quickly, and Professor Wagner was asking the students to vanish more objects using the Vanishing Spell, as some students still hadn't fully mastered it yet, they had mostly failed to do so.

Professor Wagner complimented Harry and Hermione at the end of the class since they had managed to vanish their objects, saying that they are two of the best students he had ever seen over years of teaching.

While Harry and Hermione were sitting outside during the break, they felt a slight breeze, and they saw a few other students talking to each other in whispers.

o-o

That afternoon, Sirius arrived home at five past four, he sat down on the sofa, waiting for Dan and Emma, who would not be back until half-past five.

He sat down on the sofa and gazed outside.

Unwittingly, the time went past, and then he could hear the key sound at the door, knowing it must have been Dan and Emma.

He walked to the door and greeted them.

Then he looked at the clock, seeing the short hand had pointed past five, and the long hand just went past seven.

Dan walked to the kitchen and started cooking.

"How are you today, Sirius?" Emma asked.

"Quite good, I had checked out more than ten books today," Sirius replied. "You two must have been busy."

"Right Sirius," Emma agreed. "I don't have any appointments tomorrow."

"What about Dan?" Sirius asked.

"He only has appointments tomorrow morning, that's all," Emma replied. "Sirius, how were you doing at work?"

"A lot of books were sold," Sirius replied. "There were not too many customers, though."

"Can you recall how many customers had bought the books in the shop you worked in?" asked Emma.

"I am not sure exactly, but I knew it was more than ten customers who bought books from the shop that I worked," Sirius replied after a moment of thinking.

During dinner time, no one had talked much, and as everyone had finished their dinner, Emma and Sirius went to the living room.

As the night comes to pass, Emma turned on the light, and closed the curtain, then she sat down with Sirius.

"Have Harry's parents been telling you anything recently?" she asked.

"No," Sirius said.

About half an hour later, Dan came in.

"You must have been busy today, Dan," Sirius said.

"We had about a dozen patients today," Dan said. "There had been a bunch of appointments made, the majority of them are only in our practice for the first time."

"Some of the new patients are old people," said Emma.

o-o

During the evening, Harry received the latest Wizarding newspapers in Canada.

He then began to read.

_Students Died In Nesassino Wizarding Academy_

_Three students (two boys and one girl) attending Nesassino Wizarding Academy (one of the Wizarding schools in Canada) had died three days ago due to the consumption of mistakenly brewed Antidotes for a deadly disease that only happens to Wizards. Two of those students were in their final year at school, and the remaining one was only in his second year._

_The person who brewed the potion (Professor Adrian Jones) was discovered as a Dark wizard under the disguise of Polyjuice Potion, and he scarpered before anyone could catch up with him, and the Minister of Magic in Canada, Matthew Taylor, is looking for him right now._

_The parents of those dead students were very sad as they were informed about their children's deaths, and a funeral would be arranged for them sometime soon._

Harry's heart sank, he had never expected such an incident like this to happen in the Wizarding world of Canada, although he knew that this incident was not exactly a new one.

Given his previous experience, this had happened in Hogwarts only once, that Barty Crouch Junior, who was disguised under Polyjuice Potion as Mad-Eye Moody, and he almost gotten attacked by him after he had entered the DADA office, luckily Dumbledore had arrived just in time and put a stop on it.

However, he knew that it would not be worthwhile to get involved in investigating anything like this, as it was not his business to do so.

"What's up, Harry?"

Harry turned, and he saw Hermione looking at him.

"Look at this," he said, handing the Wizarding newspaper to her.

After Hermione finished reading it, she sighed.

"Are you worried that a teacher might be under the guise of Polyjuice Potion over here?" she asked.

"Not really," Harry said. "Is there any way to detect whether someone is under the guise of Polyjuice Potion quickly and effectively?"

Several students looked up, and they were astounded. Hermione, however, had placed her arm around Harry's neck, and she giggled.

"Nothing that I know of," she said.

"That person must have tried his best to act like Professor Adrian Jones, otherwise anyone could have suspected him," Harry said. "I just hope that this sort of thing doesn't happen in our school."

"So what do you reckon happened to the real one?" asked Hermione.

Harry shook his head.

Then he leant closer to Hermione to continue reading.

_The real Professor Jones arrived back in Nesassino Wizarding Academy only one day ago, and he was frustrated to hear such a thing, and he wanted to get involved in investigating this matter. Meanwhile, the Minister of Magic and the Wizarding School Governors had urged the staff of the school to agree on security questions, as well as examining new staff members, to make sure that they are not disguised as someone else._

Harry and Hermione put the newspaper aside, then they continued to do their homework.

As soon as they had finished their homework, Harry checked his watch.

"It is fifteen minutes to nine o'clock," he said.

"Let's go to bed, then," Hermione said.

Harry nodded.

o-o

Over the next few days, the school hardly talked except for the deaths of the three students in Nesassino Academy, some students wondered if Sainite is going to be attacked or not.

"It would not be likely for this incident to happen in this school, as I don't see a single hint of any professor who teaches here disguising themselves," Harry said on Thursday evening after he finished his homework.

"We still have to watch out, though," Hermione said, "even though this school is much more peaceful than Hogwarts."

"Not even a single Dementor exists in this country," Harry said, changing the subject.

"Maybe the Ministry of Magic in Canada does not use Dementors to guard Wizarding prisons," Hermione said. "I suppose that there must be other security measures set for it."

"Is Azkaban the only Wizarding prison existed?" asked Harry.

"I don't know, but I think that there are possibilities that some countries have local Wizarding prisons," Hermione said.

"There are Wizarding prisons in Canada," a voice said.

Harry looked around and saw Joshua.

"How many?" he asked.

"Twenty," said Joshua.

Harry stared at Joshua in disbelief.

"You know about Azkaban, don't you?" he asked.

"I've heard of it, but Wizards who had committed a crime in Canada will not be sent to Azkaban for imprisonment, they will be sent to one of the local Wizarding prisons in Canada. Although the Wizarding prison in Canada has security measures, it doesn't use Dementors," Joshua replied.

"Security measures are a better way to prevent breakouts from prisons," Hermione said. "Newly created spells must have been used in the Wizarding prison of this country."

"Partially," Joshua said, "only that it wouldn't always be necessary to use newly created spells around the prison."

o-o

Sirius had received the news about the deaths occurred in Nesassino Academy a few days ago, and he sighed as he apparated back home from work.

_Fortunately, it was not any of the Sainite students, _he thought. _Otherwise, I would have to make sure that Harry and Hermione are all right._

He sat down on the sofa, then he looked down at the ground for about one minute.

"Hopefully Harry had already received this news," Dan said.

"I hope so," Sirius said, without looking up. "I also hope that there're no disguised staff members in Sainite."

He sighed again, not knowing whether he should write a letter to warn Harry and Hermione to watch out for themselves.

"Let's just hope that this doesn't happen," Emma said.

Sirius nodded.

Then they turned on the TV.

"How many books have you sold today, Sirius?" asked Dan.

"Over a dozen," Sirius replied.

"We didn't have a lot of patients today, so we arrived home early," said Emma.

Two hours later, Sirius looked at the clock, and he discovered that the short hand was almost pointing to nine, whereas the long hand was pointing to eleven.

"I think I will sleep now," he said.

Dan looked at his watch and nodded.

o-o

As Friday arrived, Harry was looking forward to the weekend.

During the morning, they had History of Magic.

While in that class, they noticed that Joshua tried to get a boy to concentrate when he was playing hangman with another boy.

After the class, he was not satisfied.

"Elisha, if you don't concentrate this year, you are not going to pass your OWLs," he said to a boy beside him.

"This class is boring," the boy said.

In the following class, Elisha didn't brew the potion correctly, and Professor Warner wasn't impressed with him.

"Maybe you should take some extra lesson with me, Mr Daniels," she said.

Elisha sighed.

During Charms, Elisha didn't seem to struggle with it, and he did well in that class.

After lunch, Harry and Hermione went back into the common room, trying to do the homework that the teachers had set them.

One hour later, Joshua arrived in the common room, along with three boys.

"I don't think I am going to take Muggle Studies anymore," one of the boys said.

"You can drop it at the end of the year, Brenton," Joshua said. "Both of your parents are Half-Bloods, why do you think you need this subject now?"

Brenton nodded.

"Maybe you should have dropped it earlier," Joshua went on.

"I felt okay about Muggle Studies at first, but as time went on, I felt that the subject was worthless," Brenton said. "I'll drop it at the end of this year, I don't care if I fail."

Harry and Hermione both looked up, and they saw Joshua and the boys around him.

"Brenton, I will also drop Muggle Studies," another boy said.

"Right," Brenton said. "Let's go, Clement."

The pair of them quietly left the common room.

"I'll stick with Muggle Studies, Joshua," the boy who didn't leave the room said.

"Suit yourself, Dino," Joshua said.

A moment later, Elisha arrived.

"Are you going to do your homework?" asked Joshua.

"I'll do it next week," Elisha said. "We don't have History of Magic until next Friday."

"What about your other homework, then?" asked Joshua. "What about Potions?"

"We won't have Potions until next Thursday," Elisha said.

"What about your homework for the other classes next week, then? When are you going to do those?" Joshua asked.

Elisha said nothing.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

**Plot to Steal Potion Ingredients**

Disclaimer: Everything in Harry Potter universe belongs to J.K. Rowling. I got nothing out of this except for enjoyment.

On the following Monday, classes started as usual, and no one had mentioned the death of the three students in Nesassino Academy, as they were all too busy.

Harry and Hermione spent most of their time after dinner doing homework or studying in the library. They would often look for some more books to take out while they were in the library.

Suddenly, they heard a few people talking, curious, they listened.

"Do you think that this will work?"

"Yes, Polyjuice Potion will work, and I know perfectly well how to make it."

Harry and Hermione's heart sank, they wondered what these students were doing, disguise themselves? No doubt, since both he and Hermione knew that Polyjuice Potion is used to transform someone into someone else's appearance.

Harry wondered why any student in the school wants to brew the Polyjuice Potion.

"They must have a purpose of doing it," Hermione said.

"We might have to wait one month or more and see what happens," Harry said.

"And I am wondering if they would be able to obtain a hair of the people that they want to change themselves into," Hermione said. "Where are they going to hide the Polyjuice Potion from the staff members of this school?"

"Let's hope that they do not disguise or target us," Harry said.

A moment later, the librarian announced that the library will be closed soon.

Harry and Hermione crept out of the library and went back to their dormitories.

Elisha was feeling stressed, as there was a lot of homework that he was required to do, and he still had his unfinished homework from last week to finish. So that evening, he was the last person to leave the common room.

He regretted not listening to Joshua in the first place.

o-o

On the following day, he had a bit of trouble keeping his mind on the class during Charms.

"What were you doing last night?" asked Brenton.

"Homework," Elisha answered.

"Why does it take so long for you to complete your homework last night?" asked Brenton.

"I didn't do Friday's homework," Elisha answered.

Brenton giggled.

"Are you telling me that you did the homework that was assigned to us yesterday and last Friday?" he asked.

Elisha nodded.

Hermione heard him, and she and Harry approached him.

At the moment, another boy approached Elisha.

"I see that you are not going to pass your OWLs this year, Elisha," he said.

"Shut up Dino!" Elisha shouted.

"You will fail if you don't try at all," Hermione said, finally losing patience.

Elisha turned and saw her and Harry.

"What?" he asked.

"Do you want to pass your OWLs?" asked Harry.

"Yes, I do," Elisha answered. "I am just not good at every subject in this school."

"So you only do the homework on the subject you are good at?" asked Hermione.

"I usually leave the homework of the subject that I don't like til the last minute," Elisha answered.

Before Harry or Hermione could say anything else, Joshua called them over.

"You don't need to worry too much about Elisha," he said to them.

"We should take Ordinary Wizarding Level seriously," Hermione said.

Joshua nodded.

"Is there anything wrong with me giving him advice?" asked Hermione.

"I gave him advice throughout the past four years, but I could not do anything about him," Joshua answered. "Your advice would be just as useless."

"He said that he's good at some subjects," Harry said.

"Indeed," Joshua agreed.

At four o'clock in the afternoon, Harry and Hermione were heading back to their common room, as they walked past a bathroom, they saw that the students they had overheard the previous evening were there.

"I've got almost all the ingredients, but we will fetch the rest later from Professor Warner's office."

"We have to make sure that she does not find out about the fact that we are going to steal the ingredients from her office."

Harry realised that they must be talking about Powdered Horn of a Bicorn, and the Shredded Skin of a Boomslang. He did not see any of these ingredients in the Potions classroom.

He urged Hermione to walk on, since he didn't feel that it would be good to remain there, and she agreed.

As they walked on, Harry remembered the disaster he had caused during his second year at Hogwarts in Snape's class, which exploded Goyle's potion, showering the whole class. He didn't know whether he should feel guilty about what he did, even though that event was a long time ago.

As he and Hermione walked back to the common room, they started to do their homework, and they hardly looked up even when other students entered.

After they had finished their homework, Harry checked his watch again, discovering that it was five minutes past five.

"Let's go to the hall, shall we?" asked Harry, as he saw a few students had already walked out of the common room.

Hermione nodded.

They stood up and followed the crowd of students out of the common room.

After dinner, Harry and Hermione went back to the common room, and they sat down.

They looked up as a few other students entered the common room, and they turned to each other, neither had spoken for a moment.

Then Joshua turned up in front of them.

"Finished your homework?" he asked.

Harry and Hermione nodded.

Joshua did not say anything else, he pulled out his homework, walked to a desk and sat down on the chair, and began to do it.

Harry and Hermione decided to go out for a walk.

As soon as they crept out of the common room, and walked towards an empty classroom, they heard a sound.

Curious, they entered and saw four students inside, two boys and two girls, and they don't know any of their names, but as those students saw them, they quickly walked out of the classroom.

Harry and Hermione walked out of the classroom as soon as the four students had left, and they headed back to the common room, while they were on their way, they saw Joyce.

"Where have you two been?" she asked.

"We have been inside a classroom," Harry said.

"Are there anyone else inside that classroom?" Joyce asked,

"Four students," Hermione replied. "As soon as they saw us, they walked out of the classroom."

Joyce said nothing else, and she followed Harry and Hermione back to the common room.

As soon as they entered the common room, they saw Joshua, still sitting down at his desk, doing his homework.

"It looks like that those students inside that classroom was planning something," Joyce began.

"Yeah, or else they wouldn't be walking out on me and Hermione," Harry said.

Then he fell silent.

Would there be a possibility that they were on the plan of brewing the Polyjuice Potion?

On the following afternoon, Harry and Hermione went back to the common room, sat down again, and started to do their homework.

At six o'clock, Harry and Hermione put their homework inside their bags, deciding to do it later, since most of them would not be due until Friday. Then they walked to the hall for dinner.

Neither any of them seen anyone saying anything during dinner time, so they decided to keep quiet about what they saw the previous evening.

After they finished their dinner, they went back to the common room and continued doing their homework.

As soon as they had finished some of them, Harry checked his watch.

"It's nine o'clock, I think I will go to bed now," he said.

"I think I will go to bed too," Hermione said.

They walked out of the common room together, and they went back to their dormitories.

o-o

Sirius, meanwhile, was reading the Wizarding newspapers again.

**Wizarding Shops Burnt Down**

_Several Wizarding Shops, including one uniform shop, one book shop, were burnt out in the northern part of Canada two days ago, although there are no records of anyone injured or killed._

_The Minister of Magic in Canada was very furious about this, and he wanted to know who had set fire on those Wizarding shops._

_Some of the employees in one of those shops that have been burnt had decided to find a job elsewhere, while the rest of them were staying at home until the shops are rebuilt._

_The staff and the students in the Wizarding school near those shops would have to buy their school books and uniforms from another shop._

Sirius considered for a moment, and he knew that Dark wizards are still roaming around in Canada, even if they were not one of Voldemort's followers.

He wondered how Harry and Hermione would react if they had seen this news.

_Fortunately, it wasn't the shop that I worked at, _he thought.

"What's up, Sirius?" Emma asked.

As soon as Sirius told Emma about what he had seen in the Wizarding newspaper, Emma raised an eyebrow.

"Surely it wasn't Muggles who had done this," she said.

"I don't think Muggles would be able to even see it," Sirius said. "Wizarding shops are supposed to be concealed from Muggles."

"There must be bad wizards out there in this country," Emma said.

Sirius nodded in agreement.

"I wouldn't have expected Harry and Hermione to deal with these things, they probably don't even need to deal with these things even when they had come of age unless if they need to."

Before either of them could say anything else, Dan entered.

Sirius gave the newspaper to Dan, and Dan was shocked after he had read it.

"I hope that we don't get spotted by any Wizards from Britain, or else they would suspect which one is the real one," Dan said.

"I don't think this is likely to happen," Sirius said.

o-o

For the rest of the week, Harry and Hermione spent most of their time doing their homework, and they didn't talk much with their friends.

"Finally, I finished it," Hermione said on Thursday evening, putting her History of Magic essay back into her bag.

"I am almost done," Harry said.

Hermione checked her watch.

"One hour left until bedtime," she said.

Half an hour later, Harry got up and placed his History of Magic essay back into his bag.

"I am going to bed," he said. "Goodnight Hermione."

"Goodnight Harry," Hermione said.

o-o

On the following day, as Harry and Hermione went to the hall breakfast, they met Joyce.

"What's up?" asked Hermione.

"I shall tell you as soon as we get to the hall," Joyce replied.

As soon as they got to the hall, they filled their plate, and Joyce sat down beside Hermione.

"Yesterday, I was reading books in the library, and I heard a few students saying that they are going to use Polyjuice Potion, disguise themselves as others," she said in a whisper.

Hermione nodded.

"I realised that," she said. "Do you have any idea who they are going to disguise?"

Joyce shook her head.

"Don't know who's hair they are going to steal," Harry said.

"If they slipped animal hairs inside the Polyjuice Potion, it would cause a serious problem," Hermione said hopefully.

"They probably wouldn't risk doing it," Harry said quietly. "They must have known that Polyjuice Potion cannot be used for animal transformations."

As soon as they finished their breakfast, they went to the History of Magic class.

Professor Holland collected everyone's History of Magic essays with a wave of his wand, and then he started the class.

The class went too quickly, and Professor Holland did not assign any homework for the students at the end of the class.

Then they went to their next class, which was Potions.

The class did not go well, even though Harry and Hermione had made their potions correctly, a few students had made certain mistakes, which caused their potion to explode before it was taken off the fire. Three of the students were burnt by the hot liquid.

"Don't know what you guys are playing at," Professor Warner said, and she asked a few students who were not being burnt by the potion to take them to the sickbay.

"This is the first time that this sort of incident had happened in this potions class of this school this year," Harry said.

"Those students who had been burnt by the potions didn't listen to Professor Warner when she had told them about what problems may occur if they took a wrong step," Hermione said.

"Similar incident had happened to some of the students in their Potions class during my fourth year," Joshua said.

"Has anyone repeated their years in this school?" Hermione asked with interest.

"Not a single student who had attended the same class as me had failed their exams from their first to their fourth year," Joshua replied.

There was a short silence.

"What about you two?" Joshua asked.

"No," Harry said.

"You didn't even take your exams at the end of your fourth year at Hogwarts, Harry," Hermione said.

"That was because of the Tri-Wizard Tournament," Harry said.

"And you went straight to your fifth year in this school, Harry?" asked Joshua.

"I've got loads of time to revise," Harry said.

Joshua said nothing else, and they walked to the school grounds.

After the break time, Harry and Hermione made their way to the Ancient Runes classroom.

Professor Hampton spent the whole class going over Rune translations, and he announced that he will be teaching the students translations of new words in their next lesson.

After the class, Harry and Hermione made their way to the Charms classroom.

Professor Collins was not impressed that three students ended up in sickbay, although the class went on without a problem.

Harry and Hermione decided to spend time in the library for the rest of the day, so after lunch, they made their way to the library.

Harry searched through the shelves, took a few books, and brought them back to the table.

He decided to do his homework after he gets back to the common room, as there was not much homework given to them this week.

"School holiday is around the corner," he said.

"Right," Hermione said.

As soon as they got back to the common room, Harry began to do his homework.

It took him only one hour to finish everything, and then he placed his finished homework back into his bag.

Then he sat down and relaxed for a bit.

End of chapter


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

**Easter**

Disclaimer: Everything in Harry Potter universe belongs to J.K. Rowling. I got nothing out of this except for enjoyment.

The following day turned out to be a Saturday, Harry and Hermione were wondering outside the school, and nothing was worrying them except for the fact that some students might be using the Polyjuice Potion,

As they had no idea who would be disguised, they decided to keep it quiet from everyone for the time being.

There were incidents happening around the Wizarding world in Canada, and Harry only hoped that the Dark wizards in Canada would be arrested soon, although he was relieved about the policy of the Ministry of Magic in Canada, that the Minister would not simply take the word of the fact that a Dark wizard was under the Imperius Curse, and employing them. No Dark wizards would go scot-free and endanger the Wizarding World in Canada.

He was looking forward to Easter; since he knew that the exams are still ages away, that he had plenty of time to study.

After some time, they walked back to school.

"Let's go back to the common room for a moment," Harry said, and Hermione agreed.

The common room was empty as they had arrived, and they sat down, neither talked.

Suddenly, the weather became cloudy, and a moment later, rain poured down from the sky. Harry was grateful that they went inside the school before the rain started.

Harry could see the students outside rushing into the school building, attempting to shelter themselves as fast as possible.

Another moment passed, a burst of the lightning storm struck, and then the thunderstorm followed.

"Wish we know what weather would it be in the future," Hermione said.

"The staff members in this school might have not known about the weather," Harry said.

Hermione nodded.

"I think you are right, or else the staff members would have warned us about bad weather outside," she said.

Just then, several students walked into the common room, a few of them were soaked and wet.

Joshua introduced Clement to Harry and Hermione, and they shook hands.

"You two were transferred here, right?" asked Clement.

"Yes," Harry answered.

"How do you feel about this school?" asked Clement.

"This school is great," Harry answered. "Better than my previous one."

"So what was your previous school like, Harry?" Clement asked.

After Harry told Clement about his experience at Hogwarts, Clement shook his head.

"So, what are your Blood Status?" he asked.

"Why do you want to know this?" Harry asked.

"I am not going to look down on you based on your Blood Status, I just want to know," Clement said.

After Harry and Hermione revealed their Blood Status, Clement stated that he was a Half-Blood.

"My mother was a Muggle, my father was a Muggleborn," he said. "My father did not tell my mother that he was a Wizard until they were married."

"How did your mother feel about this?" Harry asked.

"She was shocked, but she decided to stay with him regardless," Clement answered.

Then Harry and Hermione told Clement about their life before Hogwarts.

"So your Godfather is taking care of you now, Harry?" asked Clement.

Harry nodded.

o-o

As soon as the Easter holidays started, Harry and Hermione portkeyed back home.

"How's school?" Sirius asked.

"Good," Harry said.

He had considered becoming an Auror during his fourth year in Hogwarts, right after Barty Crouch hinted him about it.

After he told Sirius about this, Sirius smiled.

"You could apply for a job in the shop that I worked after you graduate, Harry," he said. "You may want some other positions when they are available, depends on your progress. Auror is only one position."

"I agree with Sirius, Harry," Hermione said. "You have been taking Arithmancy and Ancient Runes for a few months now, and you did remarkably well in those subjects, as such you have some options to spare."

Harry nodded, he understood what Hermione was talking about, it was like failing to acquire something and getting something else that is available.

He decided to put this out of his mind for now.

They didn't have much homework for the holiday, in fact, certain teachers had not set any homework for them at all, but Harry decided to do his homework after dinner, getting it out of the way for a bit, so he will be required to do less later, as he wants to be one step ahead of others.

So after dinner that night, Harry went to his room, pulled out his homework and started doing it.

It took him about forty-five minutes to finish it, and then he stood up and placed his homework back into his bag.

Just then, Hermione arrived.

"What have you been doing, Harry?" she asked.

"Homework," Harry said.

"I am going to do mine after Easter," Hermione said. "We have two weeks of holiday."

o-o

On the following day, after breakfast, Dan switched on the TV, and they sat down and watched it for about half an hour.

"I'll cook now," he said, and he left the living room.

"I'll come and help you out," Emma said, and she followed him.

While Dan and Emma were busy cooking, Sirius turned to Harry again.

"I would have expected that your clone had taught enough defensive spells to the DA members," he said.

"I hope so," Harry said.

"Harry, are you getting used to the term dates in Sainite?" Sirius asked.

Harry nodded.

"It didn't take us too long to adjust to the term dates of the school," Hermione said.

"And how are you doing at school?" asked Sirius.

"Quite good, we both achieved high grades in most classes," Harry said.

"So you will pass your OWLs this year, with high grades," Sirius said. "Keep up with the good work."

"We will," Harry said.

o-o

Two days before Easter, Dan went shopping during the afternoon, to buy food for Easter.

Sirius, Harry and Hermione were sitting together in the bedroom, while Emma was watching TV in the living room.

Suddenly, a thought occurred to Harry.

He remembered the hippogriff that he and Hermione had stolen from near Hagrid's hut at the end of his third year, and he only hoped that it is still alive.

"Harry," Sirius said. "Would you mind telling me how you managed to ride a hippogriff to save me a few years ago?"

"I was thinking about that hippogriff a moment ago," Harry said.

"Don't tell anyone about this, Sirius," Hermione said.

She explained what had happened during her third year at Hogwarts, starting from the incident of their first Care of Magical Creatures lesson, and how Buckbeak the hippogriff got sentenced to death, to the point of how she and Harry managed to save it.

"If you didn't take that many subjects during that year, Hermione, Sirius wouldn't be saved," Harry said.

"You prat," Hermione said, hitting Harry lightly on the shoulder, knowing that he was talking about the time turner.

Sirius giggled.

"I didn't upset you, did I, Hermione?" asked Harry.

"No, but I was so exhausted during my third year at Hogwarts," Hermione answered. "You were right, though."

"And right now the hippogriff isn't even here," Sirius said. "He is with my clone now."

"I don't see any reason for my parents to clone the hippogriff," Harry said quietly. "By the way, Macnair turned out to be one of Voldemort's followers, and he was the executioner of the hippogriff."

"The hippogriff didn't injure Draco Malfoy on purpose," Sirius said.

"It's Draco Malfoy's fault," Harry said. "He shouldn't have insulted Buckbeak."

"Since Macnair and Lucius are friends, they would side with each other, and trying to find excuses to kill the hippogriff," Sirius said.

"And what happened to Macnair now? Still claiming to be under the Imperius Curse or something?" Harry asked. "The Death Eaters are too cunning, using lies to keep themselves out of Azkaban, Now that Voldemort is back, he would have easier access to the Ministry since the Ministry had denied his return, plus that there were Death Eaters in the Ministry of Magic in Britain."

"Dumbledore said that we are only as strong as we are united, as weak as we are divided, at the end of our fourth year at Hogwarts," Hermione said.

"How did you manage to cast a Patronus Charm in your third year, Harry?" Sirius asked.

"Well, I have to start from the first Quidditch match in my third year in Hogwarts..." Harry answered.

And he went on and explained how he requested Remus Lupin to teach him the Patronus Charm; so that he could fight the Dementors in case if they turn up again in another match.

"The Firebolt that I sent you was being checked for jinxes?" asked Sirius.

"That's right," Harry answered. "I got it back a few months later."

"I quite agree that the Hogwarts professors need to take this precaution," Sirius said. "Did you win the House Cup in your third year?"

"Yes, Gryffindor won," Harry answered.

"What about your first and second year?" asked Sirius.

"Gryffindor won a few matches when I was in my first year, but we lost points because of a dragon," Harry said. "At the end, I, Ron and Hermione went through the trapdoor, got passed through the enchantments that the professors had set to guard the Philosopher's stone; a stone that turns metal into pure gold and silver, and it produces the elixir of life, a potion that makes someone immortal."

"And what happened then?" asked Sirius.

After Harry told him about this, Sirius nodded.

"So you received one hundred and sixty points in the last minute," he said.

"Not just that, Neville Longbottom received ten points, so we won," Harry said.

"What happened in your second year, then?" asked Sirius.

"We won the first match, and then the Quidditch got called off before the second match, because of the attacks," Harry said.

"What do you mean by the attacks?" asked Sirius.

"A Basilisk managed to petrify the Muggleborns, including Hermione," Harry answered.

"Did you investigate who was behind the attack?" asked Sirius.

"We tried to; Ron and I sneaked into the Slytherin common room, disguised as Draco Malfoy's friends, Crabbe and Goyle, but Draco Malfoy did not know who was behind the attacks," Harry said.

Sirius nodded.

"We found out from a page torn out of an old library book, clutched in Hermione's hand, that the Basilisk would kill anyone who looks at it in the eye, and then we went to see Lockhart, the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher and showed it to him," Harry said.

"What happened to Lockhart now?" asked Sirius.

"Ron's wand was broken, and Lockhart took it while we were on our way to the Chamber of Secrets. He tried to wipe our memory using that wand, but the spell got backfired, hitting himself instead," Harry answered. "We won the House Cup again; since Dumbledore gave Ron and me two hundred points each after Ginny Weasley was saved."

"How did Ron's wand break?" asked Sirius, and Harry told him about arriving at Hogwarts by a flying car a few years ago.

"How did he get through the exams in Hogwarts without his wand, then?" asked Sirius.

"The exams were cancelled," Harry answered. "Anyway, Hermione was petrified, and she was revived three days before the exam started."

"There wouldn't be much time for preparation, then," Sirius said. "What happened to Ginny, anyway?"

As soon as Harry told Sirius about the Diary, Sirius was livid.

"Messing around with something like that wouldn't do good," he said.

Harry remembered what Arthur Weasley told Ginny; _Never trust anything that can think for itself if you can't see where it lies its brain._

"I understand," he said. "If Ginny wasn't saved, Hogwarts would close."

"Imagine if the exams were taking place that year, I would be nervous," Hermione said. "If the professors exempted me from taking the exams, I would be okay."

"Lockhart was a fraud, by the way," Harry said. "When I had my first Defense Against the Dark Arts class with him, Lockhart brought a cage of pixies, and set them free, trying to see what we do with them. The pixies went everywhere, attacking the classroom and the students, and Lockhart used a spell that did nothing at all."

"That's not good," Sirius said. "A good Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher should know how to handle the pixies."

"What about the things he did in his books?" asked Hermione.

"He's taking credits from other people," Harry answered. "He used memory charm to wipe their memories."

Hermione sighed, and then she nodded.

"So overall, it looks like that you were breaking school rules one after another, except that you never got caught," Sirius said.

They talked for about two hours, and Dan arrived back.

Harry, Hermione and Sirius helped Dan to put the groceries away, and then they went to the living room, and they saw Emma was still watching the TV.

A moment later, Emma turned the TV off.

After breakfast on Easter Monday, Harry and Hermione sat together, not wanting to revise any new things yet, as they decided to take a break.

A moment later, Dan arrived, and he gave everyone one Easter egg each.

Harry and Hermione took them, unwrapped it, and stuffed it in their mouths.

Then they went to the rubbish bin and threw the wrapping in.

"It's good that we can celebrate Easter at home now," Harry said after he finished eating the Easter egg.

Sirius nodded.

"If it was in Hogwarts, we would be stressed," Hermione said. "This is quite the adjustment."

o-o

After dinner, Harry and Hermione went to the living room, and they sat down.

"Don't know if the Ministry would admit Voldemort's return," Harry said. "If they do, the security of Hogwarts may have to be increased."

"Our school is better," Hermione said. "All the teachers there are competent, and we don't have to worry about anything since we are not in any danger."

"I agree," Harry said.

On the following day, Dan and Emma both had appointments, and Sirius went to work after breakfast.

Hermione pulled out her homework and began to do it.

Harry went into his room, as he did not want to disturb her. He waited until she arrived in his room.

"Finished?" he asked her, and she nodded.

o-o

Sirius arrived back home at half-past four.

"How's your day, Sirius?" Harry asked.

"Good," Sirius answered. "There were a lot of customers buying books from the shop I worked in."

Half an hour later, Harry decided to cook; since Hermione's parents didn't arrive back yet.

After Harry finished cooking one dish, which was fried green bean, he considered cooking another one, just as Dan and Emma arrived back.

"Leave the rest of the cooking to us, Harry," Dan said as he walked into the kitchen.

"OK," Harry said.

End of Chapter


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

**Absent Staff Members**

Disclaimer: Everything in Harry Potter universe belongs to J.K. Rowling. I got nothing out of this except for enjoyment.

The two weeks holiday passed too quickly for Harry and Hermione, although it wasn't a bad one.

As they portkeyed back to Sainite on the afternoon of the day before the new term started, they made their way to the common room, and they saw Herbert.

"How's your holiday, Harry?" asked Herbert.

"Yes, I had a good one," Harry said.

He pulled out his textbooks and began to read.

Hermione sat down, opened her bag, and searched for books to read.

Soon enough, more students entered the common room, and they sat down.

Joshua walked over to Harry.

"How was your holiday, Harry?" he asked.

"Good," Harry replied.

"A few of the students who are part of this school would not be here until a few days later," Joshua said.

"Who?" asked Harry.

"The Headmaster will announce it," Joshua said.

Harry and Hermione fell silent. They looked around and saw a few more students arriving in the common room, but there were a few students who were nowhere to be seen.

As soon as dinner time arrived, Harry and Hermione made their way to the hall.

"Good evening everyone," the Headmaster said. "I've got an announcement before we eat."

"I would like to tell you that a few of our students, John Lemus and Joyce Kennedy have had an injury due to an attack that had happened inside a shop they had gone to together, just two days ago, currently they are in the hospital, and they will be back here within three days."

"That's all," he said.

The students got to their feet and began to fill their plates with food.

After Harry and Hermione finished eating, they made their way back to the common room.

A few moments later, a few other students arrived, they sat down, pulled out their parchments and began writing.

Harry and Hermione wondered what they were writing, although they didn't expect anyone to do their homework at this stage; since classes will begin on the following day.

Two hours later, the students who were writing took their parchment and stuffed them inside their bags.

Harry checked his watch, it was twenty past eight.

As there's still some time left until bedtime, he made some consideration.

He knew that his clone must have already been busy revising for his OWLs; since the exam time in Hogwarts would take place in less than two months.

He wondered what Voldemort was planning.

He also wondered if anyone would catch sight of him and report it to the Ministry; so that the Ministry will start to take precautions to protect everyone.

o-o

On the following morning, after breakfast, Harry and Hermione went to their first class, which was Defense Against the Dark Arts.

Professor Bailey had started to teach the students a few new defensive spells, unfortunately, all of them were not easy, as a result, everyone had to practise them for homework.

"Luckily we have a free period after break," Harry said during break time.

"We could use that time to practise," Hermione agreed.

Unfortunately, the time in that free period wasn't enough for either of them to learn the spells, they kept on getting it wrong.

After Harry and Hermione had their final class for the day, they went back to the common room to practise, but they still didn't get it. As soon as dinner time arrived, they made their way to the hall.

"These spells seemed to be hard," Harry said.

Joshua, who was sitting beside Harry, felt that what Harry had said was true.

"Even I didn't master these spells yet," he said. "My friend Samuel Malloy had told me about these spells last year, he said that it took him ages to do them properly."

"Oh, right," Hermione said. "Professor Bailey did mention that these spells are somehow complicated."

"You just need to practise," Joshua said. "Eventually you will get it."

A few days later, Harry and Hermione saw Joyce Kennedy arriving in the common room, along with a boy beside her.

"Hi Harry," Joyce said. "This is my friend John Lemus."

"What year are you, John?" asked Harry.

"I am a sixth-year student," John said.

For the next fortnight, Professor Bailey did not teach the students anything new; since he knew that most students are still struggling with the spells that he taught them.

"Don't know how we are going to be able to pass our OWLs," Hermione said one evening, putting her wand back into her bag. "I don't think these spells are likely to be excluded when we sit our practical exams."

"Do you think we should ask a sixth-year student about this?" asked Harry.

Hermione shook her head.

"That would be my last resort," she answered. "If you want to ask someone, go ahead and do it."

At this point, Harry didn't know what Hermione was thinking, but he didn't want to continue to try these spells without asking someone older than him.

He first decided to ask John Lemus, since he was a sixth-year student, however, as soon as he asked him about it, he didn't get the answer as expected.

"Sorry Harry," John said. "I know these spells bothers you, but I can't help you, I have failed Defense Against the Dark Arts OWL, as I had failed to perform these spells correctly during my exam."

Then he walked away.

Just then, Joshua arrived.

"Hey Joshua," Harry said.

"Hi Harry, what do you want?" Joshua asked.

"Where is Samuel Malloy?" Harry asked without thinking.

"He had already graduated," Joshua replied. "Currently he is an Auror in the Ministry of Magic. Do you want to ask him for advice on those spells that Professor Bailey had taught you?"

Harry nodded.

"Do you have any other friends who are sixth-year students here?" he asked.

"Yes, I'll introduce you a few during the weekend," Joshua replied, after a few minutes thinking.

"There are still two days left until Saturday," Harry said.

"I'll introduce someone to you on Friday evening," Joshua said.

o-o

After dinner on Friday, Harry went back to the common room and met Joshua, along with someone he didn't know.

"Hi, Harry, this is my friend Hector Dunn," he said.

"Hi, Harry," Hector said. "I have heard from Joshua about you and Hermione having trouble with some sort of spells."

Harry nodded.

"The theory of those spells are easy to memorise, but doing it is not going to be easy," Hector said. "I didn't find it easy either when I tried these spells."

"Should we just keep our mind on other subjects for a moment?" asked Harry.

"We have enough time for those," Hermione said. "We don't have to spend all our time on these spells."

"Even I didn't put all my time in for these spells," Hector said. "I don't think Professor Bailey would expect you to put all your time in for this either."

"Maybe there are more spells that will be more difficult than these," Harry said.

"No, not this year, but next year," Hector said. "Professor Bailey had told me that there would be more difficult spells than these."

Then a thought came into Harry's mind.

"Maybe we should just focus on the easy ones first," he said.

"We could, only that none of these spells is easy," Hermione said.

"Let's finish our other homework tonight," Harry said. "Right now we don't have that much homework."

Hermione nodded.

After they finished their homework, Harry checked his watch, it was five minutes past eight.

"We will practise until nine," he said.

Hermione nodded.

At nine o'clock, Harry finally mastered two of the spells that Professor Bailey had taught him, while Hermione only mastered one, although she was already in progress with another spell.

"There's still four more spells left to practise for me," Harry said.

He put his wand back to his bag and walked out of the common room.

o-o

As May arrived, Harry and Hermione finally mastered the spells that Professor Bailey had taught them, and Professor Bailey watched them in amazement as they had performed those spells in front of him on Wednesday.

Apart from Harry and Hermione, only four other students had mastered them.

However, the announcement of Professor Bailey had shocked the students who had not been able to do the spell properly.

"Those of you who have not mastered these spells, I will give you one more week, until next Wednesday I shall move on whether you have mastered it or not," he said. "I can give you extra lessons for you to master those spells even after next Wednesday, though, for those of you who wish to master them but couldn't make it within this week. You had plenty of time already."

"Those of you who have already mastered these spells, you can proceed on to chapter twelve," he said.

Harry flipped their books to chapter twelve, and he found a few spells, which had similar wand movements, but they turned out to be almost as hard as the spells that he had previously mastered.

Although he had already skimmed the chapter beforehand, he didn't fully understand the spells in that chapter.

He finally felt that while progressing one step ahead is a good idea, it would not always be easy to do so.

As soon a the bell rang, he and Hermione put their books in the bag and walked out of the classroom.

After lunch, Harry and Hermione went to their Arithmancy lesson.

Professor Santos stood at her desk and said:

"Good afternoon everyone, I would like all of you to put your essay on the desk, I'll collect them."

As soon as everyone had placed their Arithmancy essay on their desks, Professor Santos took out her wand and waved it, then the parchments flew onto her desk, and piled themselves up.

Then she gave it another wave, and the pile of parchment split into two piles.

Then she began the class.

"Now, everyone, take out your books and turn to chapter sixteen," she said.

Harry and Hermione read in silence, neither had spoken to each other, or anyone else.

As soon as the class finished, Harry and Hermione went back to the common room.

Then they began to do the homework that Professor Santos had given, which would be due on the following Monday.

As soon as they finished, Harry checked his watch and discovered that it was half-past five.

"Let's go to dinner first," he said to Hermione. "I am hungry."

"I am nearly finished with this," Hermione said. "You go. I'll see you in a bit."

Harry placed his homework inside his bag and headed down to the hall.

He helped himself to some sandwiches.

As soon as he finished two of them, Hermione arrived and sat down next to him.

"Did you do your Charms homework?" she asked.

Harry gasped.

"Not yet, I shall have to do it after dinner," he said.

"What were you busy with before dinner?" Hermione asked.

"Arithmancy homework," Harry said.

"I didn't do Arithmancy yet," Hermione said. "There's still plenty of time to finish it. I will do mine on Friday evening."

After dinner, Harry went back to the common room, and he started to do his Charms homework.

As soon as he finished it, it was ten minutes to nine o'clock.

He placed his Charms homework inside his bag and left the common room.

On the following morning, Harry got up and dressed, and he made his way to the hall.

While he was on his way to the hall, he met Hermione, and they walked to the hall together.

However, Professor Baker's announcement didn't make everyone feel too happy.

"I have a few important news to tell you," he said. "A few of our professors are absent from this school for the rest of this week, and we have no temporary replacements for them, so a few classes are cancelled, there will be no Charms, Transfiguration, or Potions class for today and tomorrow."

Harry and Hermione were stunned, and they wondered why these professors are absent.

"Also, all Herbology classes are cancelled for today due to bad weather," continued Professor Baker. "This information will be on the noticeboard as well."

Harry checked his timetable.

"That means we only have two classes today and two classes tomorrow," he whispered to Hermione.

"Doesn't mean that we are going to waste these free periods," Hermione said.

"I know," Harry said.

After breakfast, Harry and Hermione went back to the common room, and they started to read books.

Harry didn't think it was a good idea to tell Hermione that she could do her homework now; since there was only one hour for them.

After reading his textbooks for half an hour, he decided to rest for a bit.

Hermione was feeling exhausted, too, so she put her books back into her bag, and then she stayed still.

Half an hour later, they set off for Ancient Runes class.

Professor Hampton spent the whole class talking about rune translations. This time, he told the students that they would be learning translations new words into runes, and he also mentioned that some of the translations would most likely be in the exam.

Harry looked at his runes textbook, and he found that the runes for most words are not difficult to draw, only a few of them takes time to write.

After class, Harry and Hermione walked out of the Ancient Runes classroom, making their way back to the common room.

As soon as the break time was up, Harry and Hermione began to read books again, and then Joshua arrived in the common room.

He sat down, and glanced outside the window, watching the rain falling from the sky.

Suddenly, he heard noises coming from outside.

As quickly as he could, he walked outside.

"What's going on?" Hermione asked as she paused reading.

"Seems like that there's fighting outside," Harry replied.

Then they heard shouting voices, but they didn't know what it was all about.

"Maybe the staff members are dealing with some kind of situations," Hermione said.

Then everything went quiet again.

A moment later, Joshua appeared again.

"What happened, Joshua?" Harry asked.

"There was a fight in the other common room," Joshua replied.

"The teacher must have already dealt with the situation," Harry said.

Joshua nodded.

"These students are naughty, they had caused serious troubles before," he said.

Harry and Hermione said nothing, they continued to read books.

While they were in Arithmancy, Professor Santos gave the marked essays back to the students.

"About half of you have failed, and most of you who passed have got Acceptable grades," she said. "I shall say no more than the fact that you will not be able to continue this subject in your sixth year unless if you achieve E grade in your exam."

Harry glanced at his paper.

Seeing an E grade on the paper, he felt relieved.

"What did you get, Hermione?" he asked.

"I got O," Hermione said.

"At least I am not far behind," Harry said.

As the class ended, Harry and Hermione went to lunch.

Knowing that they didn't have any other classes today, they went back to the common room after lunch.

"I think I will do my Arithmancy homework now," Hermione said. "I never realised there's going to be free time for us."

Then she pulled out her books and parchments, and she began writing.

One hour later, she put her parchments and books back into her bag.

"Finished?" Harry asked.

Hermione nodded.

She glanced around the room and saw that some other fifth years were holding their quills and writing stuff on the parchment.

Then she gestured Harry to come to her side.

As soon as Harry moved to her side, they walked out of the door.

"I am wondering how often the professors have been absent from here," she said.

"Professor Baker must have known that these staff members are not going to be here for the rest of this week, I do wonder what these professors are doing right now," Harry said.

o-o

On the following morning, Harry and Hermione arrived at the History of Magic classroom after breakfast.

Professor Holland asked the students to read History of Magic book on their own for the time being, and he promised that he will get into details of it on the following Friday.

After the class, Harry and Hermione went back to the common room, they have nothing to do because Professor Holland did not assign them any homework today.

During the evening, Harry cornered Joshua.

"Joshua, I want to ask you a question," he said.

"What do you want to ask me?" Joshua asked.

"Had there been professors absent from this school before?" Harry asked.

Joshua considered for a moment.

"For me, this is the first time that this had happened," Joshua said. "There were times that certain professors were sick and had to spend time in the sickbay while I was attending this school."

"Well, this had happened to me once before," said a voice.

Harry turned around and saw Manual.

"This happened in my first year," Manual said. "Two teachers were absent from this school, as they were attending funerals of their family members."

"Don't know what they are doing right now," Harry said.

"If someone died, wouldn't it be in the newspapers?" Joshua asked.

"Maybe they have other reasons for being absent," Manual said. "Maybe they have children who were ill in another school, and they went there to visit them."

Harry nodded.

End of Chapter


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

**Room Trouble**

Disclaimer: Everything in Harry Potter universe belongs to J.K. Rowling. I got nothing out of this except for enjoyment.

During the weekend, Harry and Hermione decided to relax a bit, since they had worked so hard this week, even though they had missed a few classes.

Harry didn't think about what the Wizarding Britain is like, as he had more important things in his mind than that.

He thought of Sirius, who was living with him and Hermione's parents, and the fake Sirius, who had to stay in Grimmauld Place.

He hadn't heard anything about the fake Sirius from his parents yet, but he felt that it could still wait until June, or so.

Just then, an owl flew over him and dropped a letter on his lap.

He looked at the envelope and discovered that it was addressed to him, from Sirius.

He opened the envelope, took the letter out, unfolded it, and started to read.

_Dear Harry_

_I haven't been hearing from you or Hermione for a while now, I decided to tell you about what happened at home._

_The dental practice that Hermione's parents worked at is currently under construction, as such fewer dentists are working in there during this period. Dan and Emma are switching between days to work._

_The construction will be finished within two and a half months._

_Regards_

_Sirius Black_

As soon as Harry finished reading, he folded it and placed it back into the envelope.

"What did you just read, Harry?" Hermione asked.

"A letter," Harry said, "from Sirius."

"There's nothing special happened in Sainite yet," Hermione said. "If we write back, we will just have to say that everything is fine."

o-o

A few days later, as soon as Sirius got home, he sat down.

A moment later, he saw Hedwig waiting at the window.

He quickly opened the window to let her in, and then he took the letter from her and opened it.

Then he started to read.

_Dear Sirius_

_I and Hermione are okay._

_There's nothing odd happening in Sainite right now._

_The only thing that had happened recently was that a few teachers were absent, and as a result, some subjects were on hold for a few days._

_Regards_

_Harry._

Sirius put the letter down, and he didn't say anything.

A moment later, Dan arrived.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"Not much has been going on," Sirius said, and he handed Dan the letter he had received.

After Dan had read the letter, he put it down.

At six o'clock, Dan had got dinner ready, but Emma was still not back from work.

After he called Emma, no one answered.

Then he felt odd.

As soon as he walked into the bedroom, he discovered that Emma's cellphone was on the floor, still charging.

He went and had a look, discovering that the phone was already at one hundred percent of charge.

He quickly unplugged it.

"Is Emma coming back?" Sirius asked.

"I don't know," Dan said. "Let's have dinner first."

As soon as he and Sirius had finished dinner, Emma arrived back.

"Emma, what kept you?" Dan asked.

"Too much traffic," Emma said. "It appears that there had been an accident happened that held me back about half an hour."

"Right, have some food first," Dan said.

"How's Harry and Hermione?" asked Emma.

"They are good," Dan said. "They replied, saying that there's nothing unusual had happened in Sainite."

There was a pause.

"I tried to call you, but there was no reply," said Dan.

"Right, I know it, I had left my phone in our bedroom," Emma said.

"Right now it is here," Dan said, handing the phone to her. "It has already been charged to one hundred percent when I saw it a short while ago."

"I had gotten up late this morning, and I forgot to take it," Emma said. "I realised that I forgot my phone only after a few hours after I arrived at work."

o-o

The Charms and Potions professors arrived back to school after the weekend, the Transfiguration professor, however, didn't arrive back, thus, another teacher had temporarily taken the spot of teaching Transfiguration.

Professor Collins and Professor Warner had explained to the students why they were absent from school, it was due to Professor Wagner's father's illness, and he had to do the chores since his father could not manage it while he was ill. They also said that Professor Wagner would be on a course for a few days, and will be back to school on Thursday.

"Which means we won't be having classes with Professor Wagner until next Monday," Harry said.

There was no homework for the fifth years in Transfiguration this week, since the reliever does not know what they should give the students for homework.

This did not stop Harry and Hermione to continue to read their Transfiguration book during their spare time.

"There has never really been any teachers absent from class since we were in Hogwarts," Harry said, and he sighed. "Imagine if Snape was absent when we have our Potions class in Hogwarts..."

"...the reliever may help Neville to improve his Potion making skills in that case," Hermione said.

"It was really unfortunate that Snape had taken over Lupin's class once when we were in our third year at Hogwarts," Harry said.

Hermione nodded.

"This reminds me, there has never been one single Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher in Hogwarts who had lasted more than one year since we started Hogwarts," she said.

As soon as the week had passed, Professor Wagner was back to teaching Transfiguration for the fifth years on Monday.

"You guys are lucky that the reliever did not assign you any homework," he said as the class started. "But while the time is still nowhere near, let's move on."

Professor Wagner spent the whole class asking the students to vanish even more objects that are more complicated than the one they had vanished before.

Neither Harry nor Hermione found that it was easy to vanish those objects, they did vanish some of them, but they had stuck on vanishing some other objects.

"Don't know what objects we are required to vanish during our exams," Harry said.

"There's no way for the examiners to ask us to vanish something that we have never vanished before," Hermione said.

"Let's hope that you are right," Harry said.

o-o

During the evening, Harry and Hermione were trying to do the homework that the teachers had set for them, and as soon as they were finished, they stood up.

"We still have time," Hermione said, checking her watch.

"What do you want to do right now, Hermione?" Harry asked.

"At this moment I don't feel like doing anything right now," Hermione answered.

Harry couldn't find anything to say about this, he considered for a moment and realised that June was approaching, which means that his clone would be taking OWLs in Hogwarts.

He knew that his OWLs are still months away, and he is currently in the progress of preparing for it.

"Hey Harry," Joshua waved at him.

Harry looked up.

"Yes Joshua?" he said.

"Come with me for a moment," Joshua said.

Harry hesitated, and then he got up.

"I'll be back," he said to Hermione, then he followed Joshua out of the common room.

He didn't know where Joshua wanted him to go, but he followed him.

They walked across several corridors, then Joshua made a left turn and walked through a hallway, then they reached a door.

Joshua opened the door, and Harry followed him inside.

Harry glanced at the room, it was shining, several candles were illuminated to give light to the room. There was a cupboard on one of the corners.

"What do you want?" Harry asked as he closed the door.

"I want to show you this room, it is called Secret Hideout," said Joshua.

"Are students allowed to enter this room?" Harry asked.

"Yes," Joshua said. "I entered this room several times before. After I got out of this room, a teacher even saw me and didn't say anything."

"How many students know about this room?" asked Harry.

"Not a lot of students know about this room," Joshua replied.

"How many staff members know about this room?" Harry asked.

"Most of the staff in this school knows about this room," Joshua replied. "This room, however, was never meant to be used in place of a common room."

"What do you mean that this room is a secret hideout?" Harry asked.

"If at least one person had entered the room and closed the door, the door will become invisible within ten seconds from the outside," Joshua replied.

"Then that is going to be a surprise if anyone had walked past the door of this room when someone wants to get out from here, it will look like as if they appeared from nowhere to them," Harry said.

There was a moment of silence.

"And what is that cupboard for?" Harry asked.

Joshua went and opened the cupboard, and Harry found nothing inside.

As soon as Harry arrived back to the common room, he checked his watch.

"Twenty minutes until nine," he said.

"Harry, where did you go?" Hermione asked.

"I went into a room called Secret Hideout," Harry said.

And then he told Hermione what Joshua had told him.

"We will talk further about this tomorrow," Hermione said. "I am going to bed, goodnight."

"Goodnight Hermione," Harry said, and they parted ways.

o-o

On the following morning, Harry and Hermione went back to the common room after breakfast, since they had a period off.

"Why would such a room like that exists in this school?" Hermione asked Harry.

"Dunno, don't you think we should go into that room?" asked Harry.

"As long as that room isn't dangerous, it will be okay," Hermione replied.

"We will do it tonight," Harry said.

So after dinner that night, Harry and Hermione went back to their common room, finished their homework, and they walked out of the common room.

As soon as they reached the room, they opened the door and entered.

As soon as the door was closed, however, the cupboard automatically opened, and a few armed robots came out, holding their guns.

Harry was startled, his hearts were pounding, he quickly withdrew his wand from his robe.

"_Protego!_" he shouted, the robots were forced back a few steps by the strength of the spell.

"Hold your fire," the robots said. "We are not here to harm you."

"Why did you two come here?" asked Harry.

"Last time you arrived here with a boy, but this time you arrived here with a girl," the robots said. "Only two different genders' appearance in this room would cause us to get out of the cupboard."

"What are you two going to do?" Harry asked. "Have a duel on us?"

"We won't if you don't want to," the robots answered.

"But are you guys not going to get back to the cupboard?" asked Hermione.

"You have thirty seconds left to get out of this room," the robots said. "If you don't get out this room within thirty seconds, you will have to stay here for twenty-four hours before you can get out."

"Let's go," Harry said.

Hermione didn't need telling twice, she opened the door, and they got out, then they closed the door again.

As soon as they got back into the common room, Hermione raised an eyebrow.

"That was scary," she said.

"Joshua didn't even give me the full details about that room," Harry said.

"What?" said a voice.

Harry looked around and saw Joshua.

"It was you who had taken me into that room, Joshua," he said.

"No I didn't," Joshua said. "I don't even know what room you were referring to."

"You told me that room was a secret hideout," Harry said.

"No I didn't," Joshua said.

"Yesterday evening, I went into a room with you, and you said that you want to show me that room," Harry said.

Soon, an argument occurred among them, and then a few moments later, Professor Bailey arrived.

Harry then explained to Professor Bailey about what had happened.

"Come with me, Joshua," Professor Bailey said.

Joshua followed him out of the common room, and Harry didn't know what to say.

About twenty minutes later, Professor Bailey arrived in the common room.

"Joshua didn't do this, I have checked his memory in a pensieve, and I have verified it, he was inside the other common room last night, doing his homework," he said. "Come to my office, and let me view your memory."

Harry followed Professor Bailey, and they arrived in Professor Bailey's office, and Professor Bailey extracted and viewed Harry's memory.

"This memory is also real," he said after he verified Harry's memory. "Which means that there must be someone who disguised themselves as Joshua using the Polyjuice Potion."

"At least we are all right," Harry said.

"We will investigate this case," Professor Bailey said. "Whoever had been brewing the Polyjuice Potion is suspicious."

o-o

A few weeks later, Professor Bailey summoned Harry and Hermione into his office.

Harry saw two boys, one of them was white-skinned, and one of them was brown-skinned.

"These two were found brewing the Polyjuice Potion in the toilet," Professor Bailey said. "I have extracted one of their memories, and I verified it, and I discovered that the one who led you into a room you didn't know was this one."

He pointed at the one who had the brown skin.

"Steve Perry, you were found to be the one who had disguised Joshua using the Polyjuice Potion, and you showed Harry Potter a room a few weeks ago," he said. "Harry entered the room with Hermione this time, and he got caught by two robots."

He paused for a moment.

"That room is out of bounds to everyone except if they want to learn advanced duellings, and they require permission from a teacher to enter that room," he said. "No matter who, or how many people enter that room, the robots will appear. Did you use a spell on the cupboard to make the robots to get out only if two people with different genders entered there?"

Steve nodded.

"Emerson Harger, you were assisting him in brewing the Polyjuice Potion, right?" Professor Bailey asked.

The other boy nodded.

"Steve, you turned that room into a room for pranks," Professor Bailey said. "Both of you will receive detentions from me every night this week, except for the weekend. I want you to fix that room by no later than this Friday. If you do not fix that room by this Friday, you will have detentions every night on all the weekdays of next week, too."

"Yes Professor," Steve said.

"And don't think about brewing Polyjuice Potions again, both of you," Professor Bailey said. "You two may leave."

Steve and the boy beside him left the office.

"Don't enter that room again, unless if a teacher has permitted you to do so," Professor Bailey said to Harry and Hermione. "I didn't warn any students about that room since no such incident like you two had experienced had happened before, for that, I am sorry."

"Can you not fix that room?" asked Harry.

"I would if I can, but sadly I can't," Professor Bailey said. "That spell seems to be newly created by Steve Perry. Anyway, there was a sign saying that the room was out of bounds to all students except if they had permission from a Professor, but Steve wiped the warning out, I shall have to put it back again after Steve fixes the room."

"Maybe the Arithmancy teacher can fix the room," Harry said.

"I don't know much about Spell Creation," Professor Bailey said. "The effect of a created spell, however, cannot be reversed without knowing that spell first."

"Right," Harry said.

"You two may leave," Professor Bailey said.

End of Chapter


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

**Steve's Disappearance**

Disclaimer: Everything in Harry Potter universe belongs to J.K. Rowling. I got nothing out of this except for enjoyment.

Harry and Hermione knew that the incidents that had happened inside a room that they had entered were indeed an important thing, so they decided to write to Sirius to tell him about it.

They knew that Steve was forced into a task, and they had no idea whether Steve was able to fix that room to its original condition.

Harry only remembered that he had seen Steve while he was inside the library once, but he had never imagined that Steve would lead him into that room while under the guise of Joshua using the Polyjuice Potion. 

They didn't laugh at Steve every time they took a glimpse of him, as they knew that it was not funny that Steve had caused a room in Sainite to function differently than how it was supposed to function.

They frequently saw Steve in the library, whispering to a few other students, and they didn't know whether he was trying to seek help to fix the room or to evade his responsibility.

On Wednesday evening, they returned to the common room from the library at eight o'clock, and then Joshua cornered them.

"Hey Harry, finished your homework?" he asked.

Harry nodded.

"Some of them," he said.

"I just found out that Steve had several accomplices on his side, by the way, he is a cunning boy," Joshua said. "He had always been trying his best to evade punishments from the teachers."

"Did he succeed?" Harry asked.

"Most of the times he did," Joshua said. "Sometimes he did get caught by the teachers when he tried to evade it."

"Like not attending class?" Harry asked.

"Sometimes," Joshua said.

"How many times had he disguised as someone else using the Polyjuice Potion?" asked Harry.

"Several times per year," Joshua said. "Most of them remained undetected."

"He won't be able to escape this time," Harry said.

"Right," Joshua said.

o-o

That night, Harry met his parents again.

"Harry, now it is our time to tell you that Sirius's clone had died," Lily said.

"Has he been proven innocent?" asked Harry.

"Yes," Lily replied, "We already notified the real Sirius about this."

"Who killed Sirius's clone?" asked Harry.

"Bellatrix Lestrange," Lily answered.

"Your clone had now being told about the prophecy," James said.

"And are you going to intercept the prophecy?" asked Harry.

"Yes, but we need to find the perfect time to do so," James said. "We don't have any idea when we are going to be doing that, although we do know that it must be done during a time before Voldemort's been defeated, or else if we do that after Voldemort has been defeated, it would be no use."

Harry laughed, and he knew that even if Voldemort had killed his clone, there would be no need to worry, although it may somehow shock the Wizarding Britain.

o-o

On the following day, Harry told Hermione everything that his parents had told him in a whisper during break time.

Hermione smiled.

She knew that the Wizarding Britain had no idea that Sirius had been faked, and she was determined to not mention it in front of anyone else.

She wondered if Steve would be able to fix the room by tomorrow.

She knew that she didn't have to care if the room wasn't fixed, but she wondered if any other students who might get in by mistake.

She didn't think about going to the door of that room again to see whether a sign that says 'Do not Enter' has been put up; because there would be no need to.

After the final class on Thursday, Harry and Hermione went back to the common room and started to do their homework again, their workload was a little more than usual this time.

Harry had only managed to finish his Herbology homework before dinner time, and then he checked his timetable.

"The Potions homework is due next Thursday, so I think we will worry about this later, nevertheless I will do it this evening," he said.

"And we have already done our Charms homework," Hermione said, and Harry nodded.

"I will be doing my Ancient of Runes homework tomorrow evening," Harry said. "It is not due until Monday."

"What about Transfiguration?" asked Hermione.

"Yes," Harry said. "I'll do that tomorrow as well."

"You may not be able to finish both of them by tomorrow evening," Hermione said.

"I'll continue my homework in the weekend if this is the case," Harry said.

Hermione couldn't find anything else to say, so she nodded, and then walked with Harry to the hall for dinner.

After dinner, Harry and Hermione went back to the common room, and Harry began to do his homework.

Then he started to do his Transfiguration homework.

After he had finished it, he discovered that it was fifteen minutes past nine o'clock.

He put his homework back into his bag, walked out of the common room, and then he entered the boys' dormitory, jumped onto his bed and slept. 

On the following morning, Harry got up from the bed, and he walked out of his dormitory, meeting Hermione on the way, together, they went to the hall for breakfast.

After breakfast, Harry and Hermione made their way to the History of Magic classroom.

However, as soon as they arrived at the door of the classroom, they saw a note.

**Attention**

_History of Magic class will not be taking place today s__ince Professor Holland had received an urgent call yesterday that his niece had died, and there's no reliever available to temporarily replace him._

"That means we will just have to wait until the next class," Harry said.

"Let's go back to the common room, then," Hermione agreed.

They went back to the common room, and then they sat down.

Harry didn't think it was a good time to do some of his homework; since he only has one hour until the next class starts.

A moment later, a few fifth-year students entered the common room.

None of them said anything as they sat down, they looked around the room, and then they began to whisper to one another.

Harry and Hermione looked out from the window, and they saw a few birds fled past the school grounds.

A few minutes later, the weather turned cloudy.

"Don't know if it is worth it for us to go to the school grounds today at break time," Hermione said.

In an instant, they forgot about the next class, and it was only five minutes before the time of their next class that they remembered they had a class to attend.

Harry checked his watch.

"Let's go," he said, showing Hermione his watch.

Hermione nodded, and they made their way to the Potions classroom.

"Oh, Mr Potter, Miss Granger," Professor Warner said. "You two are just in time for class, sit down please."

Harry and Hermione sat down, and they glanced at Professor Warner.

"Where are the others?" Professor Warner asked.

Before either Harry or Hermione could say a word, a few students entered.

"Where is everyone else?" Professor Warner asked, seeing that there were still about half the class that did not yet arrive.

The rest of the students shook their heads.

"Let's get started," Professor Warner said. "I don't want to waste time. Turn your Potions book to page one hundred, and brew the potion as stated."

Harry and Hermione looked around, and they didn't see Joshua.

They decided that it would be best to brew their potions instead of waiting for others to turn up.

Half an hour later, Joshua and the rest of the students turned up.

"You are late, guys," Professor Warner said. "You may not be able to finish brewing the potion within this class. I don't like to keep students inside at break time just for the sake of finish brewing their potions, page one hundred in your potions book, start now."

Another half an hour had passed, Harry and Hermione had finished brewing the potion, and they waited for Professor Warner to come and check it.

"Well done, you two," Professor Warner said as she examined their potions.

After everyone had gone back to the common room during break time, Harry cornered Joshua.

"What has been keeping you for so long, Joshua?" he asked.

"My watch stopped working for some reason," Joshua answered. "I only remembered when Wiley entered the common room and told me about it."

"He didn't even check his watch?" asked Harry.

"He lost track of time," said Joshua.

"If your watch stopped working, it might mean that you won't be able to tell when your class begins on certain days of next week and the weeks afterwards, unless if your watch gets fixed," Harry said. "Otherwise you may have to wait outside the classroom before it even starts, or you need to stick with someone who has a watch that functions properly, or else you will be late again."

"I know," Joshua said. "I might have to write home for another watch."

For the rest of the day, Joshua stayed close to Harry, as he needs to know what time it is, just so that he wouldn't be late to classes.

After dinner time, Harry and Hermione went back to the common room and began to do their homework.

Elisha was sitting at the table, doing nothing, and then Joshua began to nag him.

"Have you finished your homework yet?" he asked.

"Yes, I have," Elisha answered.

Harry had managed to finish all of his homework, and it was already half-past nine when he went back to bed.

o-o

On the following day, the Professors checked the room that Steve was supposed to fix, but it still wasn't restored.

Naturally, this would mean that they would be putting Steve on detention, but they didn't see Steve anywhere when they searched the whole school.

"Steve didn't even turn up in class on Friday," Professor Collins said.

"Maybe he had made himself invisible," Professor Bailey said. "I might have to write to his parents if necessary."

"What if he ran out of this school?" Professor Whitlock asked.

"He will be punished more severely if that was the case," Professor Bailey said. "I may need to inform the Headmaster about this."

"Steve was a very good student at studying," Professor Whitlock said. "His behaviour, however, had never been so bright ever since he arrived at this school."

"Some of his bad behaviour went on unnoticed," Professor Collins said.

"We might have to keep a closer eye on him when we catch up with him," Professor Whitlock said.

The other professors nodded.

They questioned Emerson, but Emerson said that he didn't see Steve since this morning.

"When was the last time you saw him?" asked Professor Whitlock.

"Yesterday evening," Emerson answered.

"How could he get away unnoticed, then?" asked Professor Whitlock.

"I have no idea," Emerson answered.

Steve's disappearance from Sainite spread through the school the next day, this worried a few of Steve's friends.

"Steve seemed to be very naughty," Joshua said.

"Don't know who else escaped along with him," Harry said.

He could not see that this school is entirely peaceful, and he considered what had happened several years ago – during the time that he was in his years at Hogwarts.

After he had counted all the things that had happened when he was in Hogwarts, he knew that Hogwarts was not even a safe school to him, compared to this one. Wizarding Britain was a very dangerous place not only to him; but to the others as well.

A moment later, he pushed these thoughts aside.

He walked out of the common room, arrived at a corridor, and he met a few other students who were fighting.

He quietly walked past them without getting hurt, and his thought turned to Steve again.

What had happened to Steve? Did anyone cover up for him? Did he leave the school grounds without detection?

Then another thought came to his mind.

What if Steve was wearing an Invisibility Cloak?

That thought made him tremble slightly; if Steve was wearing an invisibility cloak, he could go anywhere without anyone seeing him.

"Harry?" a voice said.

Harry turned around and saw Hermione.

"What are you thinking?" Hermione asked him.

"I was thinking about Steve," he said. "Let's not talk too much about this for the moment, because he could be anywhere. We don't want to run into trouble."

"Whisper to me," Hermione said.

"Do you remember what made us invisible during our time in Hogwarts?" Harry asked.

"The Invisibility Cloak," Hermione replied.

"That's it, Hermione," Harry said, then he dropped his voice and continued. "Maybe Steve is making himself invisible."

"Then he could be sneaking anywhere," Hermione said.

"We better look after our possessions," Harry said. "Maybe Steve could steal things from certain students."

"Are you serious, Harry?" Hermione asked.

"I said maybe," Harry replied.

Then another thought occurred to him.

"Apart from the Invisibility Cloak, what else could make someone invisible?" he asked Hermione.

"Disillusionment Charm," Hermione said. "Why are you asking me this?"

"In my first year at Hogwarts, there was once when I was looking at the Mirror of Erised, Dumbledore appeared, and he told me that he didn't need a cloak to become invisible," Harry said. "I bet Dumbledore may have been using the Disillusionment Charm to conceal himself."

Hermione considered for a moment, and then she shuddered.

"Well, since Steve is a sixth-year student, there would be no doubt that he would be able to use it," she said.

"I wondered what Blood Status Steve is," Harry said.

"Why are you talking about Blood Status, Harry?" asked Hermione.

"I wondered if Steve has magical parents or not," said Harry. "If he has, his parents may have already taught him this."

"Maybe he has magical parents," Hermione said.

End of chapter


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

**Surprising News**

Disclaimer: Everything in Harry Potter universe belongs to J.K. Rowling. I got nothing out of this except for enjoyment.

Steve was still nowhere to be seen after the weekend had passed, he was absent from class, and the teachers had no idea where he is.

Harry and Hermione did not mention anything about this, as they felt that there's no point doing it.

"Maybe Steve thought that he could get away," Harry said to Hermione.

"Don't tell me that you are going to investigate this," Hermione said.

There was a short pause.

"You are right, Hermione," Harry said. "I have already done a bit too much before, and I don't think I am going to do this again."

"The teachers would be worried, though," Hermione said.

"I bet they would," Harry said.

They didn't have much time to talk about Steve; since they knew that their time was limited. They assumed that as long as no one enters the room, no one would be in danger.

A moment later, John Lemus arrived.

"Hi Harry," he said.

"Hi John," Harry said.

"Haven't been seeing Steve for a few days now," John said.

In silence, Harry told John about what had happened about a week ago.

"I was looking for Steve," John said. "The teachers had asked me to do so."

"What do you think the teachers would do to him if they did find him?" asked Harry.

"He will be warned. If such a thing like this happens again he would be expelled," John said. "Several students had been expelled from this school because of this in the past few years."

During the evening, after Harry had done his homework, he decided to write to Sirius and inform him about Steve, and Hermione didn't object him.

As soon as he sent out the letter, he looked at his watch, discovering that it was half-past eight.

He quickly went back to his dormitory, climbed onto his bed and slept.

o-o

Sirius arrived home that evening, and he saw Hedwig waiting at the window, carrying a letter.

He opened the window, detached the letter, then Hedwig took flight again.

He opened the envelope, took out the letter, and started to read.

_Dear Sirius_

_It has been a while since I had written to you, but here is something that I want you to be aware of._

_A few days ago, Joshua had led me to a room in Sainite, and nothing had happened when we enter that room._

_On the following day, I showed Hermione that room, but once we got in, there were a few robots arrived from the wardrobe in that room, and this terrified us, though we are not in any danger._

_The teachers had investigated the case, d__iscovering __that Joshua was someone else, called Steve, and he was __asked to fix that room or else he would be on detention._

_After the deadline that the teachers had given them, he was nowhere to be seen._

_I am not trying to ask you for help with this situation, I just want to tell you about this._

_Regards_

_Harry_

Sirius didn't know what to say, and he had no idea how Hermione's parents would react when they hear about this news.

He had heard from James and Lily saying that his clone had died, and that caused him to wonder what would happen to his will.

Would the will remain inactivated?

Would Dumbledore get hold of his will, and how would he react if he discovered that the will was not activated?

Just what were James and Lily playing at?

He hoped to get an answer from James and Lily real soon.

That night, as he was in bed, James and Lily appeared.

"Sirius, I know you are worried about your will remain inactivated, but we have got this all worked out, we had rewritten your will under your name so that it will be activated," James said.

Sirius nodded.

o-o

At the end of June, Professor Bailey announced to the students that he would be starting to teach them Non Verbal spells on the following week.

Several students frowned.

"This will be coming up in your exams," he said. "It is not that difficult, it is just that you don't speak out the incantation aloud."

Harry and Hermione both smiled.

At the end of the class, Professor Bailey did not assign any homework to the students; since they would be learning something new, and he wouldn't expect them to know it yet.

As soon as Harry and Hermione entered the hall, they filled their plate and sat down.

While they were eating, Manual arrived and sat down beside them.

"It is such a bad thing that someone who had caused trouble in this school had disappeared from here, isn't it?" he asked.

Harry immediately knew what he was talking about.

"Steve was never a bright student, he had good exam grades, but other things he does was being cunning, and every year, he causes trouble to this school," Manual went on. "He is in the same year as me, by the way."

"How come he wasn't expelled from this school?" Hermione asked.

"The trouble he had caused was not as severe to the point of expulsion from here, but some of the troubles he had caused over the years while he was in this school were already quite enough for him to be suspended," Manual replied.

"Did his parents know about the trouble he had caused?" asked Harry.

"Yes," Manual said. "And this year, the troubles that he caused are worse than the ones he caused during his previous years in this school."

"Would you count modifying the function of a room in this school big trouble?" Harry asked.

"Yes, this is serious enough, and that's not the only thing he had done this year," Manual said. "Apart from the trouble you have mentioned, he had caused a few more troubles during the start of the term."

"Like what?" Hermione asked.

"Berating other students during class time for no reason," Manual said. "When he couldn't do his practical magic properly, he blames other students for no reason. He created very dangerous spells sometimes and use them on other students which caused a few of them to end up in the sickbay for a few days."

"And the teachers decided to keep this quiet from others?" Harry asked.

Manual nodded.

"What is his Blood Status?" Hermione asked.

"Half-Blood," replied Manual. "Muggle mother, Wizard father."

"Do you think there is a chance that he will get expelled?" Harry asked.

Manual glanced at Harry for a moment.

"Probably," he said.

"Did you learn Non-Verbal Spells during your fifth year here, Manual?" Hermione asked.

"Yes," Manual replied.

"Luckily we are a few steps ahead of others," Harry said.

"You don't have to be a few steps ahead of others to master Non Verbal spells in your fifth year," Manual said. "I was confused about it as well."

The rest of the day passed without much of an incident happening.

After breakfast on the following day, Harry and Hermione had one period off, and they received an owl, carrying the latest Wizarding Newspaper.

Harry and Hermione detached the newspaper, and the owl fled away.

As they went back to the common room, they began to read the newspaper.

**An Incident In Brussy Wizarding Shop**

_The Ministry of Magic had caught a few Wizards raiding in Brussy Wizarding Shop yesterday at four in the afternoon, all of them has been identified, Steve Perry, Marcus Flores, and two others, known as Berry Chalk, and Blaine Boisen. Not only that they had taken a decent amount of items from the shop, but also injured several cashiers._

Harry and Hermione both gasped, as they knew that Steve Perry was a student in Sainite.

They continued to read.

_Currently, the reason that they decided to raid the shop was unidentified, and they are currently in the Ministry holding cell._

_The day of their trial is to be confirmed soon enough._

Harry and Hermione both sighed.

"No wonder we didn't see Steve," Harry said.

"His parents are going to be disappointed once they are informed about this," Hermione said.

"And I am wondering if Marcus Flores was attending this school," said Harry.

"Unless if the Wizarding locations in this country are visible to Muggles, he must be a Wizard," Hermione said.

Harry didn't say another word; since he knew that Hermione had a point, and he still had no idea how the Wizarding world runs in Canada, whether they are invisible to Muggles or not.

He was relieved that at least no one had been gaining favour for the wrongs they had done, as opposed to what Snape was doing to the Slytherins in Hogwarts.

He knew that Steve wouldn't set foot in this school again, and it was a relief that he and Hermione are safe.

Emerson Harger was shocked, too, when he saw the news about Steve Perry, and he was not sure what would become of him.

He knew he had assisted Steve in brewing the Polyjuice Potion, but he never expected him to run away from school.

o-o

The rest of the week passed without any incident.

During the weekend, Harry and Hermione spent time studying in the library. They knew that the exam time is going to come soon enough, even though it was ages away at the moment.

"Your birthday is like one month away from now, Harry," Hermione said.

"Right, and we will be staying home during that day," Harry said.

"The teachers are not going to allow us to go home during that time," Hermione said.

"We are on holiday during that time," Harry said.

Hermione raised an eyebrow.

"Let's go and see the term dates," she said.

Together, she and Harry went to the common room, and they found the term dates. "You are right Harry," she said, "do you want to invite anyone to your birthday?"

"It would certainly be good if someone else can join us on my birthday," Harry said. "But we have to see if they want to come or not."

"We will make our decision a bit later, then," Hermione said.

Harry never had a birthday party before, even though he did receive presents from his friends.

He knew that at least Dumbledore had already been fooled. His parents had done everything to abort Dumbledore's plan without him knowing.

On the other hand, he didn't have an insight of all the Weasleys, and his parents didn't seem to give him any details about them.

What was Dumbledore doing now? Was there anything that he would be telling the cloned Harry later?

Who would be the next Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher in Hogwarts?

He knew that his clone must have been back at Privet Drive, and he wanted to know how his clone was doing.

He was sure that he would receive answers to these questions sooner or later from his parents, so he put them out of his mind.

During dinner time, a few students had wondered what had made Steve want to raid a shop along with a few other people. They whispered to each other that Harry and Hermione couldn't hear what they are saying.

After dinner, they walked back to the common room and sat down.

Soon enough, more students arrived.

Herbert sat next to Harry, and his face was downcast.

Harry turned and saw him.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"I just received a letter from my father saying that my mother has been taken to the hospital," Herbert said. "Her core was drained and she might die."

"How did she get her core drained?" asked Harry.

"She was in the process of creating another few spells when that happened," Herbert said.

"How many years of experience did she had with Spell Creation?" Hermione asked.

"Two years as of now," Herbert said.

"Do you take Arithmancy?" asked Harry.

Herbert shook his head.

"You should ask Professor Santos about this," said Hermione. "She's the Arithmancy teacher."

Knowing the situation that Herbert was in, Harry knew that it may not be likely for Herbert to come to his birthday party, but he decided to wait a few weeks before he mentions it to anyone else.

"Can you take me to Professor Santos right now, Harry?" Herbert asked.

Harry nodded.

So they made their way to Professor Santos's office, and he knocked on the door.

"Enter," Professor Santos said.

Harry pushed the door open and entered.

"How can I help you two?" Professor Santos asked.

Herbert explained the situation about his mother to Professor Santos, but Professor Santos sighed.

"I don't know how much I can help her on this, Mr Weaver," she said. "Spellcrafting isn't as easy as you think, and it could cause problems if not done right."

She paused.

"Creating a spell to repair this problem is just as difficult as finding a needle in the sea," she went on. "It could take quite a bit of time to do so."

Harry looked at Herbert, then he realised that he was in tears.

"I can go and see her, though," Professor Santos said.

o-o

On Monday morning, the Headmaster announced that all the Arithmancy classes will be cancelled today and Tuesday, due to Professor Santos's absence.

"That means we don't have any class after lunch today," Harry said to Hermione.

Hermione nodded.

After breakfast, they went to their Defense Against the Dark Arts class.

After they entered the classroom, they took their seats, and then they saw Professor Bailey was holding a quill, marking something.

A moment later, more students arrived and sat down.

Then Professor Bailey looked up, just as a few more students entered the classroom.

He waited for another two minutes, then two more students entered.

"Let's start the class," he said. "I am not going to wait for more students to come in."

There was a short silence.

"Just as I have announced before, we are going to be learning Non Verbal spells today," he said. "Non Verbal spells are spells that you cast without speaking the incantation out loud."

He paused.

"I want you to divide up into pairs," he said. "One person will cast spells at the other without speaking."

The students got to their feet, Harry was paired up with Hermione, and they started to throw spells at each other.

For the first few attempts, neither had succeeded in doing it, however, after a while, both of them were able to use spells against one another without speaking aloud.

Joshua practised with another student called Otto Shaw, but neither did well in their Non Verbal spell casting.

Just then, the rest of the students arrived.

"You are late, guys," Professor Bailey said. "Hurry up, we are experiencing with Non Verbal spells today, we have already divided into pairs."

None of the students who had just arrived said anything, they put down their bags, took out their wands, and divided into pairs.

After the class, Harry and Hermione went to their next class, which was Transfiguration.

o-o

After lunch, Harry and Hermione went back into the common room, and they began to do their Transfiguration homework (they had no homework for any other subjects that they attended today).

It took them one hour to finish their homework. After they finished with it, they put it inside their bags, then they sat down and relaxed.

At four o'clock, more students had arrived back at the common room, and they sat down and chilled out, none of them wants to do their homework yet.

At dinner time, a few students whispered with one another.

Harry thought he had something to say to Hermione as well, but he decided to leave it until later since this was their privacy, strictly confidential between the two of them.

After dinner, Harry and Hermione went back to the common room, they saw Joshua doing his homework, whereas some other students sitting on their seats, some of them were reading, some of them were writing, and some of them stayed there and glanced around the room.

One hour later, Joshua looked up.

"Harry, Hermione, why aren't you two doing your homework now?" he asked.

"We've finished it this afternoon," Hermione said. "We had the afternoon period off."

"We've decided to take a bit of rest now," Harry said.

Joshua couldn't find anything to say, so he fell silent.

Harry looked at his watch, discovering that it was quarter past seven.

"What do you think about today's Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson, Joshua?" he asked.

"Non Verbal spells are not easy," said Joshua. "I am surprised that you two can make it in class."

A/N: Here you go, another chapter done.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

**A Long Match against Hufflepuff**

Disclaimer: Everything in the Harry Potter universe belongs to J.K. Rowling, I got nothing out of this except for enjoyment.

"I am glad that you won the match again!" Sirius said.

It was the Christmas holiday, Harry had finished telling Sirius what happened in school, Sirius was impressed.

"I am glad that you are keeping up with your schoolwork, and I am impressed that you won the match," said Sirius. "How's Ron's study?"

"I don't have any idea about this, as I did not ask him," Harry answered.

The Christmas time was quite exciting, Remus and Tonks had arrived to keep Harry and Sirius company.

On the day before the school term started, Sirius sent Harry off to the train station.

As he went on the train, he met Hermione, then they went to the prefect compartment together.

"How's your holiday?" Harry asked Hermione.

"Good," Hermione answered. "And you?"

"My holiday was great," Harry answered.

They didn't talk much while they were performing their duties on the train.

O-O

Once they went back into the Gryffindor Tower, they took out their books and began to read again.

A moment later, Ron entered the classroom, followed by Ginny.

"Hi Harry, Hi Hermione," she said.

"Hi Ginny," Hermione greeted. "How's your Christmas?"

"Good," Ginny answered.

"We are going to patrol the corridor again on Wednesday night," Harry said, glancing at the duty schedule.

On the following evening, Harry and Hermione were both doing the homework that the teachers had set them.

After they finished their homework, they bid each other goodnight and went to bed.

O-O

On Wednesday night, Harry and Hermione got out of the common room, walking from corridor to corridor, making sure that no one wanders around.

Nevertheless, as they reached a corridor, they saw Tracey Davis and Blaise Zabini, along with three first-year Slytherins.

They crept past them, then they saw a few first-year students.

"What are you guys doing here?" asked Harry.

The first-year students did not answer, instead, they turned and ran away.

"We should report them, don't you think?" asked Hermione.

Harry nodded.

"Let's continue our duties for now," he said.

They walked through a few more corridors, making sure that no more students are wandering around at night. After the hour was over, they went back to the common room, bid each other goodnight and went to bed.

O-O

As the Gryffindor vs Hufflepuff match drew nearer, Katie was a bit stressed.

"The Hufflepuff Quidditch team this year are quite new, too, we should be able to beat them, though I have to say that Ravenclaw had won against Hufflepuff by only ten points ahead."

"How many points did Ravenclaw get?" asked Ron.

"Ravenclaw got one-hundred and eighty points in that match," Katie answered. "Nevertheless, Ravenclaw also won against Slytherin, two-hundred and ten to seventy."

"That means we need to match against Ravenclaw as well if we want to win the house cup this year," Harry said.

Katie nodded.

"Then we need at least sixty points before Harry catches the snitch," said Demelza.

"If we can beat Hufflepuff by more points, we could go without matching against Ravenclaw," Ron said.

"Yeah, but it looks like we need to match against Ravenclaw as well," Katie said.

Harry wasn't too impressed with this.

When he was in his third year, he blocked Malfoy from catching the Snitch several times, how on earth would he block the Hufflepuff seeker from catching the Snitch just for the sake of winning when there's still have more chances of winning the house cup?

He wondered if Ron could do better as a Keeper this time.

He knew he had enough time, but Katie may not have enough time for this, except that she wasn't doing any other duties besides Quidditch Captain.

On the Saturday of the Quidditch match, Harry went into the changing room after breakfast with his teammates.

"There are some new players in the Hufflepuff team," Katie said as they got changed. "Don't know what they are going to bring to us."

As they arrived at the Quidditch pitch, they stopped, then they saw the Hufflepuffs arriving from the opposite side.

Madam Hooch was standing at the middle of the pitch.

The Hufflepuffs approached the Gryffindors, then Madam Hooch asked the Captains to shake hands.

Katie shook hands with Zacharias Smith.

"Mount your brooms everyone," Madam Hooch said.

As the brooms were mounted, the commentator, Luna Lovegood began commentating.

"Demelza in possession of the Quaffle, flying straight to the goal post, shooting the Quaffle in, but blocked by the Hufflepuff Keeper," she said.

Harry was zooming around the pitch, looking for the Snitch.

"Hufflepuff in possession, Cadwallader has the Quaffle...Ron, save it," Luna said.

Nevertheless, Ron missed, the Quaffle shot straight past him, into the hoop.

"Ten-nil to Hufflepuff!" Luna announced.

Katie seized the Quaffle, zooming around the pitch, dodging a Hufflepuff chaser who tried to intercept her, then thrust the Quaffle at the hoop.

"Ten-Ten to Gryffindor!" Luna announced.

Frances seized the Quaffle, zooming around the pitch, then a bludger hit him, causing him to drop the Quaffle. Then Luis seized the Quaffle again.

"Wells in possession, zooming around the pitch and...Gryffindor score again, Twenty-Ten to Gryffindor."

Then the Hufflepuff Chaser, Cadwallader, took possession of the Quaffle, zooming around the pitch until he was about one metre from the hoop. As he threw the Quaffle towards the hoop, Ron caught it.

Then Demelza scored another goal, Thirty-Ten.

Frances took possession of the Quaffle, zooming around the pitch, Luis tried to intercept him, but Frances passed it to Zacharias.

Zacharias zoomed around the pitch, approaching the hoop, as he was about less than one metre from the hoop, he got hit by a Bludger, causing him to drop the Quaffle.

Demelza took the Quaffle and threw it towards the hoop.

"Forty-Ten to Gryffindor!" Luna roared.

Cadwallader seized the Quaffle and zoomed towards the goalposts, dodging a bludger in the process.

As he was only about one metre away from the hoop, he threw the Quaffle towards the hoop, however, Ron caught it again.

Katie seized the Quaffle, roaming around the pitch, dodging a bludger and headed towards the goalposts.

As she threw the Quaffle towards the hoop, the Hufflepuff Keeper, Jerrell Silva, caught it.

"Hufflepuff in possession," Luna said. "Frances has the Quaffle, dodges a Bludger and zooming towards the goalpost, Weasley, save it."

Just as she had expected, Ron caught the Quaffle and threw it to Luis, who zoomed towards the goalpost, and got another shot.

"Fifty-Ten to Gryffindor!" Luna roared.

Cadwallader seized the Quaffle, but as he zoomed around the pitch, he got hit by a Bludger, causing him to drop the Quaffle. Demelza seized the Quaffle and headed for the goalposts.

"Gryffindor in possession, Demelza heading for the goal...Sixty-Ten to Gryffindor!" Luna announced.

Cadwallader seized the Quaffle again, zooming around the pitch, as he was near the goalposts, he attempted to throw the Quaffle into the hoop, only that Ron blocked it again, passing the Quaffle to Demelza.

Demelza headed towards the Hufflepuff goalposts, but all the Hufflepuff chasers were following behind her, she passed the Quaffle to Luis to avoid getting intercepted.

Luis headed towards the goal, thrust the Quaffle into the hoop.

"Seventy-Ten to Gryffindor!" Luna announced.

Zacharias Smith took possession of the Quaffle, headed towards the goalpost.

Nevertheless, a Bludger hit him, causing him to drop the Quaffle, then Katie seized the Quaffle and thrust it into the hoop.

"Eighty-Ten to Gryffindor!" Luna announced.

Then Cadwallader seized the Quaffle and headed straight for the goal.

Katie and Luis were both chasing him, so he passed it to Zacharias, Zacharias took aim, lobbed it straight at the hoop.

"Eighty-Twenty to Gryffindor!" Luna announced.

Then Luis seized the Quaffle and headed straight to the Hufflepuff goalposts.

A Bludger shot straight at him, but Lawrence hit it with his bat, causing it to rocket back to the other side, then Luis continued to move towards the goalposts.

"Ninety-Twenty to Gryffindor!" Luna announced again.

Zacharias Smith seized the Quaffle again, heading straight for the goalposts, as he was only about one metre away from the hoop, he thrust the Quaffle towards it.

"Ninety-Thirty to Gryffindor!" Luna announced again.

Demelza took possession of the Quaffle again, zooming around the pitch, dodging a Bludger and headed straight towards the goalposts.

Zacharias was following her, but before he could intercept her, she scored another goal.

"One-hundred to Thirty to Gryffindor!" Luna announced again.

Cadwallader took possession of the Quaffle, zooming around the pitch and scored another goal.

"One-hundred to Forty to Gryffindor!" Luna announced again.

Katie took possession of the Quaffle, zooming around the pitch towards the goalpost, then she scored another goal.

"One-hundred and ten to Forty to Gryffindor!" Luna announced.

Zacharias seized the Quaffle and zoomed around the pitch, dodged another Bludger, and headed straight towards the goalposts.

As he was near the Gryffindor goalpost, he threw the Quaffle into the hoop.

"One-hundred and ten to Fifty to Gryffindor!" Luna roared.

Katie took possession of the Quaffle, moving towards the Hufflepuff goalposts, dodging Cadwallader who tried to intercept her, then she threw the Quaffle into the hoop.

"One-hundred and twenty to Fifty to Gryffindor!" Luna roared.

Frances took possession of the Quaffle again, zooming around the pitch, as he attempted to score a goal, Ron tried to block it, but it was too late.

"One-hundred and twenty to Sixty to Gryffindor!" Luna announced.

Demelza took possession of the Quaffle again, heading towards the goalposts, dodging Cadwallader, but then she got hit by a Bludger, causing her to drop the Quaffle.

Zacharias took possession of the Quaffle and headed towards the goalposts.

As he was near the goalposts, he tossed the Quaffle, and it shot through the hoop.

"One-hundred and twenty to Seventy to Gryffindor!" Luna announced.

Then Demelza took possession of the Quaffle and set off to the Hufflepuff goal.

Frances tried to intercept her, but she passed the Quaffle to Luis, then Luis tossed the Quaffle, causing it to shoot through the hoop.

"One-hundred and thirty to Seventy to Gryffindor!" Luna announced.

Cadwallader took possession of the Quaffle, headed towards the goalposts, but he got hit by a Bludger, and Demelza took possession of it, then she headed towards the Hufflepuff goalposts.

"Gryffindor score again, One-hundred and forty to Seventy!" Luna roared.

Harry was still searching for the Snitch, then he spotted Summerby a few miles ahead, the Snitch was right in front of him. Just then, a Bludger went for Summerby, forcing him to dodge it, then the Snitch vanished again.

"Smith in possession of the Quaffle, heading for the goal," Luna went on. "He got hit by a Bludger, causing him to drop the Quaffle, and Katie Bell took possession of the Quaffle and headed for the Hufflepuff goalposts...Yes, another ten points for Gryffindor!"

Harry zoomed around the pitch, looking for the Snitch, then he spotted it. He accelerated forward, took his hand off his broom.

"Gryffindor score again, Three-hundred to Seventy!" Luna announced.

"Gryffindor wins!" Madam Hooch announced.

As Harry landed on the ground, the Gryffindor Quidditch team approached him.

"Incredible," Katie roared happily.

"This was a long game," Demelza said.

"We may not even need to match against Ravenclaw now," Harry said.

Katie nodded.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

**Harry's Birthday**

Disclaimer: Everything in Harry Potter universe belongs to J.K. Rowling. I got nothing out of this except for enjoyment.

On Saturday morning, the weather was not pleasant at all, there were showers periodically occurring from time to time.

Harry knew that this time, he would soon have a birthday party, he had never had any birthday party before, although he did receive presents from his friends.

He didn't know how his clone had been, or where he is, but he didn't think about him much at this stage either.

He wondered how many people in Wizarding Britain had died.

_Surely Voldemort would not be a coward, _he thought. _Dumbledore was the only one Voldemort ever feared._

Just then, Hermione arrived, and she sat down beside Harry.

"Are you all right, Harry?" she asked.

Harry didn't know if it was the right time to tell her about his thoughts yet, so he nodded.

Hermione glanced at Harry, and she realised that he must be thinking of something.

"What's on your mind, Harry?" she asked.

"I'll tell you later," Harry answered.

He said this since he knew that the things he had considered beforehand were not much of a concern to either of them, as long as no one would discover them being cloned, they would be okay.

Hermione silently walked away to her parents.

o-o

On Harry's birthday, Emma had the day off, and Dan and Sirius went to work. The rain had cleared, and the weather was sunny.

"Happy birthday, Harry," Hermione said. "Come."

Harry followed her into her bedroom, and she took out a CD player, along with a few CDs.

"My parents bought this for you a week ago, but they told me to keep it a secret until your birthday," she said.

Harry laughed.

"Thank you," he said.

This was the first time on his birthday that he had been in a truly suitable environment, a comforting environment with love and care.

A few moments later, he began to listen to music for about fifteen minutes, then he stopped.

Then he and Hermione went into the living room, and they saw Emma watching the TV on the sofa.

They sat down next to her and watched the TV with her.

Emma turned and took a glimpse of them, and she turned her attention back to the TV again.

Fifteen minutes later, she turned the TV off.

Neither Harry nor Hermione complained about this, they slowly walked out of the living room together, and they sat down on the chairs in the dining room.

Harry checked his watch, noticing that it was only eleven o'clock.

They returned to Harry's room, and they sat down, not knowing what they should say to each other.

They lingered about half an hour, and then they walked into the kitchen, and they saw Emma was cooking.

Knowing that Joyce and Joshua would come later in the day, Harry felt excited.

o-o

There was a knock on the door at around half-past four.

Dan went to open it, it was Joyce.

Dan ushered her in, and then he went and saw Harry.

"Hi Harry," Joyce said. "Happy Birthday."

She handed him her present.

Harry opened it, it was a medium-sized picture frame; inside the frame was a picture of a garden full of flowers, some of them were quite beautiful.

Ten minutes later, Joshua arrived, and he put his presents on the table.

"Happy birthday, Harry," Joshua said.

"Thanks," Harry said.

Then he opened Joshua's present, discovering that it was a box of chocolate sticks.

"I bought this from the Wizarding shop," Joshua explained. "This tasted really nice."

Harry tried it; and found that it was very tasty.

Dan, meanwhile, was busy in the kitchen, cooking.

Just then, Sirius turned up.

"Hi Harry, Happy birthday," he said, and he gave him a book full of short stories.

"Thanks, Sirius," Harry said.

By six o'clock, the dining table was placed with food, and a birthday cake right in the centre.

Dan lit the candle, placed it on the cake, then he lit it.

After everyone sang 'Happy Birthday', Harry blew the candle out, and then Dan took the candle off, and then he began to serve the cake.

After they finished eating the cake, they turned their attention to the dishes.

As they were eating their meal, Joyce informed Harry that she and Joshua are dating.

"I can't say too much about that," Harry said, taking the book from him.

"What about you Harry?" Joshua asked. "Are you dating anyone right now?"

Harry didn't know if this is the time to answer Joshua's question, although he knew that he would be dating soon enough. He knew just who to ask out, but he decided to keep it from Joshua and Joyce for now, since he didn't know if it would be successful.

"I know I have someone to ask out," Harry said. "Just not yet."

Joshua looked at Harry, nodding, and he decided to not ask him any further about this for the time being.

"When are you going to do it?" Joyce asked.

"It is not for you to know when I am going to do it," Harry answered. "I will do it when I know it is the right time."

Joyce nodded.

Harry wondered what his clone was doing right now, was he already at the Weasleys? Surely the Weasleys would at least give his clone some birthday present, maybe even celebrate it. On the other hand, if he was still at the Dursleys, he would only be receiving presents from the cloned Hermione and Ron.

Suddenly, another thought came into his mind.

Did Percy Weasley get right with his family?

He quickly pushed those thoughts aside, knowing that the answer to these questions was no longer important. It was no longer his business whether Percy got right with his family.

After dinner, Joyce and Joshua followed Harry and Hermione to Harry's room.

"Your room looks neat and tidy," Joshua commented.

"What about your room?" Hermione asked.

"My room is not dirty, except that it had a lot of portraits hanging on the wall," Joshua replied.

"This is a Muggle house, by the way," Hermione said.

Joshua and Joyce looked at each other for a while.

"You should come to my house one day," Joshua said.

Harry felt that Joshua was right, and then a thought came to his mind.

"When is your birthday?" he asked.

"Fifteenth of October," Joshua replied.

"And mine is on the sixth of April," Joyce said. "Why are you asking us, by the way?"

"I'll take this down," Harry said. "Maybe I can come to your birthday next time, Joyce."

"You could take down our birth dates, but you don't need to come if you are not invited," Joyce said. "Just because you invited us to your birthday doesn't necessarily mean that they will invite you to their birthday."

"And just because I told you to come to my house does not necessarily mean it has to be only on my birthday, you can come any time during the holidays, as long as you have time," Joshua said.

Harry didn't know why Joyce wanted to say that, but he didn't want to offend Joyce, he glanced at her for a moment.

"Aren't we friends?" he asked.

"Yes," Joyce said.

"She has nothing against you, Harry," Joshua said.

"Oh right," Harry said.

"I have a friend who is two years younger than me, and he was born on the same day as I did," Joshua went on.

"And I have three friends who were born on the same month as me," Joyce said.

Harry fell silent, and he thought he knew what Joyce had meant to say to him.

"Joshua," Harry said, "do you know when is Herbert's birthday?"

Joshua shook his head.

"I know," Joyce said. "His birthday is on the seventeenth of November."

Harry immediately knew that Herbert wasn't the one that Joshua was talking about earlier, even though he knew that Herbert was a third-year student.

"Who were you talking about, Joshua?" he asked.

"Joel Ramos," Joshua said.

Hermione, who didn't speak for a while, had something to say.

"Maybe you can introduce me to him," she said.

"Sure," Joshua said.

Then Harry motioned everyone to follow him.

Joshua, Joyce, and Hermione followed him until they reached the door of the living room, and they heard Sirius, Dan and Emma were having quiet conversations.

"These two seemed to be getting along quite well with each other," Sirius said.

"It seems so," Dan said. "I don't know if Harry is willing to reveal to me about who he would be dating soon."

"I would have to know who he would be dating if it is going to happen," Sirius said. "He didn't disclose this to any of us yet, but I think he will tell us soon."

"We will ask him one day," Emma said. "We will give Hermione advice about this as well, hopefully, she will take it seriously."

Sirius nodded.

"I cannot fault your idea," he said.

"Maybe he will be asking my daughter out," Dan said.

"Most likely," Sirius agreed.

Harry didn't know what to say, even though Sirius and Hermione's parents were not saying anything that would trouble either him or Hermione, he knew that his friends were there as well. Their conversations had simply revealed to his friends who he would most likely be dating soon.

As soon as Harry walked several steps away from the door of the living room, Hermione and the others caught up with him.

"Come on, Harry," Hermione said. "Don't tell me that you are going to hide this from me forever."

Harry knew exactly what she meant to say.

"I am going to wait a bit," he said. "I don't want to discuss this yet, particularly not in front of my friends."

"Fair enough, I will talk to you about this when we are alone," Hermione said, and then she stormed away.

Harry didn't know whether Hermione was unhappy with his answer or suspecting that he was trying to use this answer to get her out of the way, but what he suspected was that Hermione didn't mean what she was saying, at least not by her action. It was the first time that he had seen her doing this.

"What are you thinking, Harry?" asked Joyce.

"There's no way that you will be able to hide this from us forever either," Joshua said.

Joyce laughed.

"Why are you laughing, Joyce?" Harry asked.

"You were already being asked who you were dating," Joyce said. "Why hide from us? We are not going to take her away from you and give her to someone else."

"So you are now under the impression that I suspect that you or Joshua would take her away?" Harry asked.

"Nothing like that, mate," Joshua said.

Harry could only hope that Hermione does not go mad at him for anything, and he left Joshua and Joyce.

As soon as he found Hermione, he found that she wasn't crying, but giggling.

"Please get out of here now, Harry," she said as she saw him. "We can talk later."

Harry nodded, and then he went away.

He felt a surge of relief, at least Hermione wasn't angry with him.

He knew Hermione was smart, seeing this side of her, disguising her true intention by covering it up with a rather unpleasant emotion.

He decided to not tell Joshua and Joyce about this.

"Are you all right, Harry?" Joyce asked.

"I am fine," Harry said.

He didn't want to tell any of his friends what Hermione was thinking, and when he was deciding what he should tell them, Hermione turned up.

"Joshua, I've heard that you and Joyce are dating," she said. "When did you two start to date?"

"Last year," Joshua said. "I was the one who asked her out."

"Right after I broke up with someone else," Joyce said.

Harry didn't think it was a good idea to ask who Joyce had broken up with, so he decided to keep it quiet.

They talked until half-past eight, and Joyce and Joshua were being collected by their parents.

As soon as they had left, Hermione asked Harry to follow her.

Harry followed her to her room, and then she looked straight at him.

"Why are you deciding not to ask me out until later, Harry?" she asked. "Are you thinking of going out with some other girls instead?"

"Nothing like that, it is just that I want to wait until I get my exam results," Harry said.

"So you think that exam results are one of the essentials to get me?" Hermione asked.

"Imagine if I didn't get similar exam result as you, you might push me away for it," Harry replied.

Hermione considered for a moment, and she realised exactly what Harry was trying to say.

"Exam results may be one of the things," she said. "Are you worried that you might get similar exam result as your clone, and fall behind my results?"

"You could say that," Harry said.

Hermione shuddered.

"So you think that if you didn't get results equal or higher than my results, I would ditch you?" Hermione asked.

"That might happen," Harry said.

"Do you even know how much time your clone had spent to study?" Hermione asked quietly.

Harry shook his head.

"And you have been working hard to maintain your marks, that you didn't need me to go over your homework at all," Hermione said. "Your grades are pretty similar to mine at the moment."

Harry couldn't speak, he simply looked at Hermione.

"At the moment, there's no one who would intercept your study, and there's no one who you would be goofing off with," Hermione went on. "You have been working pretty hard, and I would be surprised if you didn't get Outstanding in most of your subjects."

Harry looked at her, and he realised what she was talking about, he knew that all the people who had been intercepting him from getting good grades – The Dursleys, who had forbidden him to get higher grades than Dudley, and Ron, who would mostly be playing chess and talking about Quidditch instead of focusing on his schoolwork, were all far away from him.

He knew that this would never happen to him again, so he nodded.

"Having a clone would be the best protection against Voldemort and his supporters," he said, changing the subject.

Hermione didn't see any reason to refute his statement.

"Indeed," she agreed. "You already know the reason that Dumbledore had decided to send you to the Dursleys in the first place, only now he is being fooled by your parents."

"Even the whole Wizarding Britain would not know this," Harry said. "If our clones had died, they will think that we are dead, and Voldemort wouldn't even be bothered to imagine that there's another one of me somewhere else around the world."

Hermione nodded.

"How do you feel without Ron so far?" she asked.

"Less fun, but higher grades," Harry replied. "Better than studying less and get only average grades."

"Do you like to continue to study more?" Hermione asked.

"Yes," Harry said. "I will continue to study more."

"I wouldn't judge your current study habits," Hermione said.

Harry looked at Hermione, knowing that he didn't need further persuasion to ask her out, at the same time, Hermione held out her hand, and Harry grasped it.

"You are so important to me, Hermione," Harry said.

"Which is probably one of the reasons that your parents had asked me to come with you," Hermione said. "How do you feel about Ron right now?"

Harry considered for a moment, right from the time when he met Ron in Hogwarts Express until now, then he started to doubt whether Ron was much of a use to him.

"What exactly did I learn from him?" he asked.

"I don't know the answer to this question," Hermione said. "You think about it."

Harry considered for a short while.

"Not much, really," he said.

"I also think I can live without Ron," Hermione said. "I don't need to worry about persuading him to study or getting into fights with him or anything."

Silence fell between them.

Harry checked his watch.

"We will go to bed," he said. "We can talk tomorrow morning."

Hermione nodded.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

**A Boy Who Needs Help**

Disclaimer: Everything in Harry Potter universe belongs to J.K. Rowling. I got nothing out of this except for enjoyment.

Harry got up on the following morning, and he felt good about last night, although there had been a slight hassle on the relationships between him and Hermione, it was easily resolved.

After breakfast, he sat down and began to read his school books.

One hour later, he stopped reading, and then Hermione came in.

"Hi Harry," she said.

"Hi Hermione," Harry said. "I had just finished reading my schoolbooks."

Hermione moved closer to him.

"What did you do just now, Hermione?" he asked.

"I was just staying in my room, doing nothing for a while," she said. "Then I felt bored, so I came into your room."

Harry beamed at her.

"Why don't you sit down?" he asked.

Hermione sat down, and she looked at him.

He looked back at her, deciding that it would do no good to say anything that might upset her, he didn't want to ruin his relationship with her. He knew that he had other people to choose from, but he also knew that there was only one person who will fit him.

He hoped that he could say something to impress her, but at the moment he didn't know what he should say. The request for dating and the words of his proposal could wait.

As he was thinking, Dan entered, and they looked up.

"I and Emma had been talking to Sirius yesterday," he said.

"We heard part of it," Hermione said immediately.

"No offence," Dan said. "We will discuss this when Sirius and Emma get back."

o-o

Emma arrived back at half-past three, and she sat down on the sofa in the living room, feeling exhausted.

"Is the construction complete, Emma?" Dan asked.

"The construction will be completed sometime next week," Emma answered.

Sirius arrived back at about half-past five.

"It was such a busy day," he said as he sat down.

As soon as everyone finished their meals, Emma was doing the dishes, and Harry and Hermione went into the living room.

Harry knew that someday, his future would be bright, he imagined that he would be with the bushy-haired, brunette girl beside him, the one who had been standing at his side.

Fifteen minutes later, Emma entered the living room.

Dan whispered something to Sirius, and then Sirius nodded and got up from the sofa.

"Harry, please follow me into another room for a bit," he said.

Harry followed Sirius into another room, and they sat down.

"Harry," Sirius said. "How long have you been friends with Hermione?"

"Ever since Halloween in my first year at Hogwarts," Harry replied.

"Do you like her?" Sirius asked.

"Yes," Harry said. "I haven't asked her out yet."

"And when are you planning on doing this?" asked Sirius.

"At the end of this school year," Harry said. "I need to focus on my grades."

Sirius could see that Harry was serious about his grades.

"Having a good grade does count, but it is only in part," he said. "How are your grades now?"

"Pretty decent, I should say," Harry said.

"Well, what's the reason for you to avoid asking her out? Anyway, you don't have to think about dating her solely based on your grades," Sirius said. "She would certainly not want someone with clumsy grades, but do you think someone like her would want a guy with good grades but bad character?"

Harry shook his head.

"And as you told me that your grades are decent as of now, why are you considering asking her later than sooner?" he asked. "Does asking her out interfere with your study?"

Harry pondered this question in his head for a moment.

He realised that the exams were still a few months away, and he had been studying quite hard.

"I will ask her out soon," he said. "But I want to ask her out when we are alone."

"Fair enough," Sirius said.

o-o

As soon as Harry and Hermione got back to school on the day before the new term started, they made their way to the common room, and they saw Joshua and Joyce, as well as a few others.

"How was your holiday, Harry?" John Lemus asked.

"Good," Harry said.

"You better study hard," John said. "You will need to pass your exams so that you can take Ultimate Wizarding Standard subjects."

"I will," Harry said.

Just then, a boy entered the room, he has long hair and blue eyes.

"Harry, this is Joel Ramos," Joshua said.

"Hi Joel," Harry said, and they shook hands.

"How is your holiday, Harry?" Joel asked.

"Good, what about your holiday?" Harry asked.

"Not too bad," Joel said.

At half-past five, Harry and Hermione made their way down to the hall for dinner.

They ate dinner in silence.

After they finished eating, they went back to the common room.

A moment later, more students arrived in the common room and sat down.

"Hi Harry," Clement said as he saw him. "How's your holiday?"

"Good," Harry answered. "How's your holiday?"

"My holiday was good as well," Clement answered.

"Oh shoot," a boy with golden hair said in a soft voice. "I haven't finished my homework yet."

"What did you do in your holidays, Roy?" Joyce asked.

"I had guests arrived at my house and gave me some gifts, such as Legos, remote control cars, etc, I was playing with them," Roy said. "I also went to the gym several times a week, and I kept on forgetting to do my homework, I remembered my homework on Saturday, and I started to do them, but I didn't finish all of them, and then I forgot to do my homework again until now."

"Did your parents ask you about your homework?" Joyce asked.

"No they didn't," Roy said.

"You better do it tonight, Roy," Joyce said.

Roy didn't say anything else, he pulled out his homework, and started doing it.

At nine o'clock, he put down his quills and put his homework inside his bag.

Then he walked out of the common room and entered the boys' dormitory.

o-o

Class started again on the following morning. The professors were pushing the students harder since their OWLs are approaching.

Harry and Hermione didn't find this surprising, and Harry was delighted that he had got an Outstanding in his Charms homework.

Joshua was about to collapse when the teachers had issued the class tons of homework that they would only be able to finish if they put a lot of time into it.

"The teachers had never been issuing me this much homework," he said to John Lemus.

"You got more homework right now because the exams that will be coming up are not ordinary exams, they are exams that would determine what subjects you should take in your sixth year," John said quietly. "I have seen a few students who had to repeat their fifth year in this school because they failed their OWLs in almost all of the subjects that they had taken."

Joshua fell silent.

He wasn't like Hermione, who put so much time in study, and he was not very diligent to put time into studying for his OWLs either, the school work in his past four years of this school had not been hard for him, but this one had caused him to collapse.

The amount of homework that the teachers assigned to him had proven to be too much for him, and he didn't like most of the subjects, although he didn't fail in any of them.

His current passing grades, however, would cause him to not be able to step up to Ultimate Wizarding Standards. He simply could not bring himself to think that John had already told him this multiple times, that he needs at least Exceeds Expectations to step up to Ultimate Wizarding Standards.

Thinking back, he didn't have a lot of passing grades that were at least Exceeds Expectations since he entered his fifth year, more than half of his subjects were Acceptable grades.

He frequently saw Harry and Hermione studying in the common room or the library, and he considered that he would do the same, except that he had to put more time into studying than the time that he had put into studying in his previous years in this school.

Joyce had told him that she was nervous with her exam as well, but she was determined to try to do her best.

He knew that Joyce would be disappointed if he had failed his OWLs, so he decided to do his homework.

In the twinkling of an eye, two weeks had passed, Joshua had decided to try and achieve an improvement in his grades so that he could do better in the exam, just so that he could take more subjects in his sixth year.

Finally, on the final week of August, he had gotten an Outstanding in Charms.

_I made it, _he thought.

And as time went on, he received Exceeds Expectations in most of his subjects, and sometimes Outstanding grades.

_My parents would be pleased with my improvements, _he thought.

Manual was more stressed, he knew that he was in his final year, that he need top grades since he wants to work in the Ministry of Magic.

His grades had not been not mediocre but the grades in some of his subjects were only slightly above average, he knew that he need to work harder to get better.

He was really stressed during his previous year, although his results turned out to be quite well, that he got five Outstanding grades, whereas the rest of them were Exceeds Expectations.

He spent a lot of time in the library studying, sometimes he saw Harry and Hermione taking glimpses at him working in silence, and they didn't say much.

o-o

Dan and Emma, meanwhile, were both working again, the construction of their dental practice had been completed, and they had a lot more patients.

"We are going to be very busy before Christmas," Dan told Sirius as Sirius arrived home.

"And the same goes for me," Sirius said.

After dinner, as soon as Dan and Emma cleared the dining table, Sirius waved his wand at the table and the table was good as new.

As soon as Emma arrived back with a table cloth, she realised that the table didn't need to be wiped.

"The dining table looked clean," she said.

"Indeed," Sirius said. "There's no need to wipe it."

Emma was wondering how the dining table had become so clean, although she didn't want to question about it yet.

"Let's go to the living room, then," she said.

Sirius agreed,

Together, they went to the living room.

Emma switched on the TV.

_The police had arrested a few drug dealers earlier today, they were found to have bundles of Hashish drugs in their house, and they were planning to sell them a few days later. The drug dealers were awaiting trials in court._

Sirius didn't feel impressed after he had watched the news, he felt that the Death Eaters in the Wizarding Britain had gotten off too easily, and he was unjustly imprisoned.

He knew that his clone had died, and now that he is safe, Harry's parents were really playing tricks against the Wizarding world in Britain.

And right now, Harry's clone and Hermione's clone were supposed to be back at Hogwarts, and he wondered what they were doing,

Another few minutes passed, and then Dan entered the room and sat down to watch the TV.

At eight o'clock, Sirius left the room.

o-o

Another few weeks passed, the fifth-year students were preparing for their OWLs, and they hardly speak to one another.

On a Saturday, however, Joshua was making his way back to the common room, as he crept past a toilet that has the door half-open, he took a peek inside, and saw two students beside a cauldron on the toilet seat.

_Why would they want to do this? _He thought as he walked away from them. _Are they simply practising how to brew potions?_

Then he saw Professor Wagner walking towards him.

"Professor," Joshua said. "You need to come and see something."

Professor Wagner raised an eyebrow.

"What are you talking about?" he asked.

"Two students brewing potions in a bathroom," Joshua replied.

"Lead me to them," Professor Wagner said.

Joshua made his way towards the toilet that he just walked past, and he took a peek inside.

"There," he said.

Professor Wagner entered the toilet and stared at the two students, one of them had a book in his hand.

"Oi! What do you think you two are doing?" he asked.

The two students didn't answer.

"Follow me to my office now!" Professor Wagner ordered.

The two students followed Professor Wagner, and Joshua watched them as they walked out of his sight.

Joshua returned to the common room, and he sat down.

Then Harry and Hermione approached him.

"What's up?" Harry asked.

"I saw two students brewing potions inside a toilet," replied Joshua.

Harry let out a light gasp.

"Then I told Professor Wagner about this," Joshua said.

"Do you mean that these two are now in Professor Wagner's office?" Hermione asked.

Joshua nodded.

"Do you know these two people?" asked Harry.

"Warren Horton and Tim Neal, they are both in their third year," Joshua said.

o-o

Herbert, meanwhile, had just arrived back into the common room (next to the one that Joshua had occupied) from the library, and he was sitting alone in the common room, trying to finish the homework that the teachers had set him.

About twenty minutes later, he saw Warren and Tim arrived inside the common room.

"What's up?" Herbert asked.

"Professor Wagner had issued us detentions," Warren said. "Next Saturday and Sunday evening at seven o'clock."

"Why?" Herbert asked.

"We were brewing the Polyjuice Potion," Warren said. "Joshua must have caught sight of us."

Herbert gasped.

"Why did you two want to brew Polyjuice Potions?" he asked.

"I can't tell you that, I am sorry," Warren said.

Herbert looked at them suspiciously.

Before he could say anything else, Manual entered the common room. He sat down, took out his homework, then he began to do it.

About forty-five minutes, Herbert got up, and he put his homework inside his bag.

He took a glance at Manual, seeing him focusing his eyes on his parchment, his quill was still moving.

Herbert quietly went out from the common room, then he saw Harry standing outside the common room beside the one that he just came out of.

"Hi Harry," Herbert said. "Finished your homework?"

Harry nodded.

"Let's walk around a bit, then," Herbert said.

Harry agreed, and the two of them walked for a while, and then they made their way back to the common room.

Hermione was waiting for him.

"Harry," she said.

"Hi Hermione," Harry said.

"I need to tell you something, Harry," Hermione said. "There is someone who had trouble doing his homework."

"Who?" Harry asked.

"Roy Gray," Hermione said. "He had fallen behind in his homework."

"Are you wondering whether we should help him?" Harry asked.

"Joyce had been pleading with me to help him out," Hermione said.

Harry considered for a moment.

"Did you check Roy's homework?" he asked.

Hermione nodded.

"All of the homework that had been assigned to him were the ones that we had already learnt," she said.

"And how often does he fall behind his homework?" Harry asked.

"Sometimes a bit too often," Hermione replied.

"I'll think about it," Harry said.

After ten minutes of consideration, he beamed.

"Did you give him any guidance?" he asked.

"Not yet," Hermione replied.

"If he doesn't understand anything, why doesn't he go to a teacher for help?" Harry asked.

"He forgets to do his homework too easily, and he has trouble on the theory stuff," Hermione said. "He's better on the practical side of things."

Harry nodded.

"Maybe we can try and assist him in some cases, but we should never help him during an exam," he said.

"You are right, Harry," Hermione said.

"The trouble is that we are also doing revisions right now," Harry said. "We might not have enough time to help him."

"So you just want me to go back to Joyce and say that I refuse?" Hermione asked.

Harry nodded.

o-o

Joyce didn't look happy after Hermione told her that she refuses to help Roy because she didn't have enough time.

"Look at you, Hermione!" she screamed. "You almost always study one step ahead of the others, and you answer the questions that a teacher had asked correctly every time, and now you even say that you don't have time to help someone else?"

"I'll talk to a professor about this before I do it," Hermione said.

"Fine, go for it," Joyce said, and she stomped away.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

**The End of School Year**

Disclaimer: Everything in Harry Potter universe belongs to J.K. Rowling. I got nothing out of this except for enjoyment.

Hermione made her way to Professor Baker's office, and she knocked on the door.

"Enter," said a voice.

Hermione opened the door, however, it was not only Professor Baker who was in the office, but there was also Professor Wagner.

"How can I help you, Miss Granger?" Professor Wagner asked.

Hermione quickly explained why she wanted to see the Headmaster.

Professor Wagner and Professor Baker both sighed.

"As far as I know," Professor Wagner said, "Roy happens to fall behind with his homework too frequently, although I have to say that he has done quite well at the Practical side of things. He asked some other people to help him with his homework before you set foot in this school."

"Did they do it?" asked Hermione.

"Sometimes, yes, but sometimes, no," Professor Wagner answered.

"Some students told me that Roy needs persuasion to study for exams," Professor Baker said.

"So should I help him?" asked Hermione.

Professor Baker shook his head.

"I would advise you not to do this," he said, and Professor Wagner nodded.

"Roy did quite well in his homework in some cases," Professor Wagner said.

"If Roy is only lazing around and not wanting to do his homework, what's the point of helping him anyway?" Professor Baker said.

Hermione was stuck between helping Roy out or not helping him out, and Joyce had desperately pleaded her to do so, she was afraid that Joyce might estrange her.

"Listen to me Miss Granger," Professor Wagner said, and Hermione looked up, "Roy has been acting like that for the past few years, but he still got over it."

Hermione smiled, she knew that there's nothing that she needs to do. After all, it was only the loss of one friend, she didn't mind.

"You are one of the smartest students in this school, Miss Granger," Professor Wagner went on. "Even though the majority of students in this school are not quite as smart as you, they had gotten through their exams and had received good marks. It seemed to me that you had studied one step ahead of others."

"That's right, Professor," Hermione said.

"Whether someone completes their homework or not does not have anything to do with you," Professor Baker said.

Hermione nodded, and she made her way back to the common room.

"How was the meeting?" Joyce asked hopefully.

"I talked with Professor Baker and Professor Wagner," Hermione said. "Right now I insist that I will not help Roy, I will let him do it on his own."

Joyce gave Hermione a vacant, withering look, and she walked away.

o-o

Harry, meanwhile, had absolutely no time to think about Joyce's anger. After Hermione had told him what had happened, he simply waved it off.

"Joyce is not the only person I like," he said. "I think you did the right thing, that you asked the staff about whether you should help someone out with their homework or not."

"We still have the others," Hermione said.

Harry nodded in agreement.

But the real trouble did not occur until one week later.

Roy's homework situation had deteriorated continually, and Harry and Hermione frequently saw a few third-year students trying to help him out, only that Professor Collins had turned up in the common room.

"Why are you guys surrounding Roy while he was doing his homework?" he asked.

The students who surrounded Roy quickly turned to him.

"Move out of the way for now, please," Professor Collins said.

The students fell silent, and they moved aside.

Professor Collins approached Roy and took a glance at his homework.

"I can't believe that you are this bad," he said.

Roy said nothing.

"One purpose of homework is to help you to study independently, and if you have problems that you truly need help with you can ask the teachers, copying someone else's homework would be considered cheating," he said. "There are enough materials in the books for you to reference, why do you have to ask for help from someone else?"

Roy looked down at the ground.

"Did anyone else in this room ever done things like asking other people for help with their homework?" he asked.

Only two people raised their hands.

"That means a lot of students had done their homework without asking the others for help," Professor Collins said.

Roy said nothing.

"Now, those people who do want to help others with their homework, the only thing I suggest is to find it in the textbook for them even if you know the answer, and tell them roughly where the answer is," Professor Collins advised, "I would expect no further help than this from the students, and I don't expect anyone to laze around doing nothing and asking someone else to help them to do their homework right before the deadline."

The students inside the common room nodded.

Roy nodded.

o-o

Over the next few days, Harry concentrated hard in class, and he was not surprised that the others had been spotted working in the common room.

However, an uneventful day had arrived, that was a rather unpleasant end of the day on Thursday, whereas a fifth-year had accidentally misused an ingredient in a potion that caused the potion to splash everywhere in the room in the potion class, some of the potions had accidentally hit three students on the face, and since the potion was still hot, blisters had appeared.

Professor Warner cleared the Potion with a wave of her wand, and then she sent the three students to the sickbay.

"Class dismissed for now," she said as she arrived back.

As soon as Harry and Hermione got out of the class, they headed back to the common room.

Since the Potions teacher did not give them any homework, they started to do their homework for their other classes. Once they finished doing them, Harry wondered if such a thing would happen in an exam.

At dinner time, Harry had heard a few students debating about today's Potion incident.

"Don't know how stupid this person is," one student complained.

"It's just a misused ingredient, Billy," another student said.

"Oh, one misused ingredient that caused the potion to splash everywhere and causing blisters to appear on three students, Stanley?" Billy asked. "This is not funny."

"Leon isn't that bad in Potions," Stanley argued. "This is the first time he caused this incident."

"Don't know how he is going to pass his OWLs in Potions if this incident happens in an exam," Billy said.

"What if he did this on purpose?" another student asked, and this caused Stanley to turn to him.

"Shut up Ruben!" Stanley snapped.

Harry and Hermione did not want to intervene, they decided to talk about this in private.

After dinner, Harry and Hermione went back to the common room, and they didn't know what to say.

Harry remembered back in the time when he was in Hogwarts, Neville had some incident with Potions as well, and Snape ended up on putting him in detention.

He didn't know what had happened to Leon, at least Professor Warner would remind Leon to be careful the next time he brews the potion.

In truth, this was the first time that he had seen Leon causing this incident, and surely Leon would be worried about this, wouldn't he?

He knew that this potion was a bit complicated, and he had been listening to Professor Warner's instructions, and read the Potions book very carefully.

Neither he nor Hermione had caused their Potions to splash everywhere.

Just as he was thinking, Joshua appeared in front of him.

"What are you thinking, Harry?" he asked.

"Today's potion incident," Harry replied.

"Leon didn't cause that much incidents in the past during potions classes," Joshua said. "When he was in his third year, he had made a potion incorrectly, causing the potion to melt the cauldron, but this sort of incident did not happen again."

"How many potion incidents did he cause?" asked Harry.

"Two, including this one," Joshua replied.

o-o

On the following morning, after History of Magic, Harry and Hermione went into the Potions classroom, and they waited for the rest of the students to arrive.

A moment later, most of the students had arrived, and Leon was sitting behind Harry.

As soon as they had started to make potions, Harry was concentrating on the recipe, and he didn't notice anything else around him.

This time, just as he had expected, no incident had happened.

As soon as all the students went to break, they saw a fourth-year boy crying.

Several students had decided to ask him what had happened, so they approached him and asked him why he was crying.

The boy took out a letter from his pocket.

Joyce went and had a look.

_Dear Sergio_

_I have no idea how to tell you this, but your mother died in an accident this morning._

_Regards_

_Lewis Lopez_

"Your father is still alive," said Joyce.

"I know," Sergio said.

The rest of the day passed without any incident, and after dinner, Harry and Hermione went back to the common room. Then they began to do their homework.

It took Harry about two hours to finish his homework, and as soon as he put his homework back into his bag, he noticed that Hermione's table was cleared.

"Finished your homework yet, Hermione?" he asked.

"I finished some of them, I will do the rest tomorrow," she replied.

Harry said nothing else, and he headed to his dormitory.

On the following morning, after Hermione finished her homework, a question occurred to her.

She made her way to Professor Warner's office, and she knocked on the door.

"Enter," Professor Warner said.

Hermione opened the door and entered.

"What can I do for you, Miss Granger?" Professor Warner asked as Hermione sat down.

"I am here to ask you about taking Apparition test," Hermione said.

Professor Warner looked at Hermione, and then she began to ask:

"What is your age?"

"Sixteen, and I will be seventeen very soon," Hermione said.

"You can book your Apparition lesson right now, however, I don't think it is a good idea to do so at this stage, since your exams are drawing nearer," Professor Warner replied. "You will need to book the lesson at the Ministry, no matter where you take the lesson or the test."

"Can I at least write a letter to the Minister?" asked Hermione.

"You could do that during any of our school holidays," Professor Warner answered. "Contact the Minister of Magic, Matthew Taylor about this."

Hermione nodded.

"I'll contact him during the school holidays," she said. "Is it possible to make arrangements so that we can take the Apparition lesson or test in here?"

"Yes," Professor Warner said. "By the way, several years ago, we have been having Apparition lessons in here every year for those who were seventeen or will be seventeen in less than twelve months, except that now we have decided not to do it this way anymore, as it interrupts classes too often, consider those students were already at their OWL or UWS levels."

"Right professor," Hermione said. "See you later."

Then she left the office.

She considered what she should be telling Harry, since she didn't know if it was the right time to tell him, and it could wait until at least December or January.

As soon as she went back to the common room, she started to do the rest of her homework.

It only took her about one hour to finish them, after that, she placed her homework back into her bag and walked out to the school grounds.

Then she noticed that Harry was talking to Manual, but she didn't hear anything related to Apparition from either of them.

Not wanting to distract him, she crept behind him, and stood there, waiting for him to recognise her.

A few moments later, Harry turned and saw her.

"I just wondered where you were," he said to her.

Hermione decided that it was time to tell him.

"Come, Harry," she said.

Harry followed her into the common room, and then she revealed that she was asking the teacher about Apparition lessons.

"If we have to take the lesson privately, we will," Harry said.

o-o

At the beginning of October, Harry and Hermione revised as hard as they could, while some other students were struggling.

Manual Walker was rather anxious, fortunately, he wasn't behind at all, John Lemus was already on track and he studied diligently.

Often, Hermione and Harry tested each other for a brief period.

"Your answer is pretty much okay, Harry," Hermione said.

The teachers no longer teach the fifth year students new topics, since they knew that they had taught enough of it, instead they revised the old topics.

Several students, however, had found that Non-Verbal spells to be a bit troublesome, but they got over their troubles pretty quickly, right after Professor Bailey had guided them through it.

The fifth years were informed that the exam would start on the final week of October, and it would finish on the end of the first week in November.

They received their exam timetables one week before the exam.

The teachers had informed them that anti-cheating spells would be applied to their exam papers, and they will be given a quill which had been bewitched with anti-cheating spell to use in the exam. Then he listed out banned materials in exams, such as remembralls, auto-answer quills, self-correcting ink, etc, anything that could be used to cheat through an exam would all be off-limits.

The students who had taken at least three optional subjects, however, were more stressed than Harry and Hermione, after several attempts, some of them decided to give up on one subject, counting it as a fail and instead focus on the compulsory subjects.

During the exam week, Harry and Hermione were fully prepared to face anything that would be coming to them. They focused very hard when they were doing their theory exam, and they performed quite well in their practical exams.

A few other students had performed much worse than some of the students' performance that would be counted as average grades, and they were worried whether they would pass their exams or not.

As the exam weeks ended, Harry and Hermione relaxed.

"Did you skip any of the questions, Harry?" Hermione asked.

Harry shook his head.

"I am sure I have done all right," he said.

Some of the other fifth-year students were having conversations with one another about the exams.

"I didn't do too well in any of the exams, except for Charms and Muggle Studies," a fifth-year girl with black hair said.

Before anyone could say anything else, Manual walked over.

"Janet, if you fail in your OWLs, you will need to discuss your options with the teachers," he said. "You don't have to repeat your year if you have at least four OWLs with at least Exceeds Expectations."

Roy, meanwhile, didn't feel too good after the exams, he feared that he may not pass and had to repeat.

The last evening of the school year arrived, and there was an end of year banquet.

Professor Baker stood up, called everyone to pay attention, and the students turned to him.

"Another year had gone, and I hope all of you have had a great year. You will be receiving information about the start of next year by owl post towards the end of December," he said. "Now let the feast begin."

The students stood up, lined up, and took the food from the food table, then they went back to their seat to eat them.

After they finished eating, Harry and Hermione went back to the common room.

"This year was a great year for me," Harry said.

"Yes, it is a great year for me too," Hermione said. "The only thing we need to worry about is the exam results."

On the following morning, after breakfast, Harry and Hermione took their trunks, grabbed their portkey. A moment later, they found themselves at home.


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

**The First Few Dates**

Disclaimer: Everything in Harry Potter universe belongs to J.K. Rowling. I got nothing out of this except for enjoyment.

Emma Granger had the day off, and she was astounded when Harry and Hermione arrived into the living room.

"How are you both?" she asked as Harry and Hermione put their trunks down.

"We are fine," Hermione said. "Our fifth year in school is now over."

She and Harry sat down on the sofa, and then they looked around the room for a moment.

Harry noticed that there were a few additional things inside the living room, there were two flower pots, and the flowers inside the pot had already bloomed.

"This room looked different than before," he said.

"Indeed," Emma said. "Dan bought these flowers one month ago."

"Oh right," Harry said.

"How did you two do in your exam?" Emma asked.

"I did quite well," Harry said. "I didn't find any of the questions difficult."

"Same here," Hermione said.

"What about your results?" Emma asked.

"We don't know our results yet, but it will come sometime soon," Harry said.

He stopped talking, and then he looked around the room again.

After lunch, Dan arrived back home.

"Harry and Hermione are back now," Emma told Dan as Dan ate.

"Are they doing all right?" Dan asked.

Emma nodded.

After Dan had eaten, Emma helped him to wipe the table while he took the dishes out to wash them.

Meanwhile, Harry and Hermione were sitting on the sofa of the living room, neither had anything to say to the other.

Hermione didn't know what to do, since the end of the year, no teachers had given any homework to anyone, and there were no textbooks to use for study since she was sure that the teachers would only give out the textbooks on the following year.

o-o

Sirius returned home in the evening, and as he saw Harry and Hermione, he embraced both of them into a hug.

"Nice to see that you both back home now," he said. "How are you both doing?"

"Good," Harry said.

Dinner passed without much of a conversation, and after dinner, Harry went into his bedroom, whereas Hermione went into the living room.

A moment later, Sirius arrived into the room, and then he closed the door.

"Sirius," Harry said. "I want to explore some places near this house, will that be okay?"

"Well," Sirius said. "I just heard Hermione's parents talking to Hermione about dating, perhaps you can take her somewhere not far from our house as a date."

"Have you ever explored places near this house, Sirius?" Harry asked.

"I had been eating at a restaurant near this house with Hermione's parents in mid-October," Sirius replied. "It took us less than ten minutes to walk from here to there."

"You didn't apparate there, did you?" Harry asked.

"Of course I didn't, I don't want to scare the Muggles," Sirius replied.

They looked at each other for a silent moment.

"Right," Harry said. "Do you have time this weekend?"

"You want me to take you to familiarise the places near here?" Sirius asked, and Harry nodded.

"Of course," Sirius replied.

There was a long silence, and then Hermione entered the room.

"Harry, you didn't take me anywhere for a date yet," she said.

Harry knew that Hermione was saying the same sort of thing that he and Sirius had discussed a moment ago.

"I will sort this out soon," he said. "Don't worry, Hermione, the only thing you have to do is to wait until at least next week."

"Okay," Hermione said.

o-o

Soon enough, Saturday arrived, after everyone had finished their breakfast, Sirius announced that he wanted to take Harry out for a walk.

Dan and Emma were curious why Sirius didn't include Hermione, Sirius responded that they will know why later.

As soon as Sirius walked out of the house with Harry, they marched onto the pavement. Neither had spoken for a while as they walked, then Sirius suddenly stopped.

"Harry, look," he said after they had walked a few miles.

Harry looked around, and he saw a sign that says 'Canadian Cousine'.

"Was that the restaurant you went with Hermione's parents?" he asked.

"Yes," Sirius said. "In that restaurant, you will be offered a menu list so you can choose what you want to eat. The food tasted good."

"There are several restaurants around here," Harry said as he glanced around.

"Yes, but Hermione's parents picked this one," Sirius said. "You could even try a Thai restaurant situated over there with your date."

Harry nodded slowly.

"We are not going to buy anything for now," Sirius said. "I don't have a lot of Canadian dollars left in my pocket."

Then they made their way back home.

"I'll go over this place with you again tomorrow," Sirius said as they went back. "Anyway, this is not the only thing you should do with your date, I might let you explore a bit more places near our house tomorrow."

As they reached their house, Sirius took out his key and opened the door, then they entered.

Harry made his way to the living room, and he saw that only Hermione was there.

Hermione smiled at Harry as she saw him, and then Harry sat down next to her.

"What do you think we should do this Christmas, Harry?" Hermione asked.

"Something fun," Harry said. "There may be possibilities that we will go out on our own."

"That sounds fascinating," Hermione said. "We could do things on our own when my parents and Sirius are not at home."

After lunch, Dan went shopping.

"I guess we have to go out a bit all on our own," Harry said.

"Someone needs to be informed about this if this happens," Hermione said.

Harry understood what Hermione had meant to say, and then he went on.

"Doing things at home when Sirius and your parents are not at home would be a good idea."

"Indeed," Hermione said. "We could still go out on our own, though."

A moment later, Sirius entered.

"What are you two talking about?" he asked.

"Going out on our own," Harry said, as he didn't want to use the word 'dating' at the moment.

Sirius glanced at the two teens and nodded.

"Make sure you lock the door before you go out if none of us is at home," he said.

o-o

On Sunday, Sirius took Harry out again, in addition to going over the route to the restaurant they had found the previous day, he showed Harry a few shops, and then they got back home.

"Dan and Emma told me that they both have appointments from seven o'clock in the morning to four o'clock in the afternoon tomorrow," he said while they were on their way home. "Maybe you can cook something together while they are away tomorrow."

Harry nodded.

So on the following day, as soon as Dan, Emma, and Sirius had left the house, Harry decided to cook something with Hermione in a few hours.

He stayed in his room, thinking about what to do, then the door opened.

Then Hermione appeared.

"I just placed the dirty laundries into the washing machine, they are currently in the progress of being washed," she said.

"I'll have a look in the kitchen and see what I can do, I don't want to stay and do nothing," Harry said.

They made their way to the kitchen,

As soon as they arrived at the kitchen, Harry found that there were dishes inside the sink.

"I'll wash them," he said.

"While you wash the dishes, I'll do the vacuuming," Hermione said, then she walked off.

It didn't take Harry too long to wash the dishes, and after he had finished, he wiped the sink, and then he went back to his room.

He looked at his watch, it was five minutes past eight.

He waited until Hermione finished vacuuming, and then he switched on the TV.

However, he heard a few unpleasant news about what had happened in Canada, there were several robberies and one murder.

Just then, Hermione arrived, and she watched the TV for half an hour, and then she left.

Harry watched another fifteen minutes, then he switched the TV off.

He looked at Hermione and smiled.

He knew that he had gotten through this year without as many problems as he had been during his previous years of magical education, and he knew that he will be seventeen on the following year.

He knew that his OWL results were still to come, and he hoped that he would get a better grade than his clone.

As he was thinking, it had started to rain.

The rain continued for over one hour, and then Harry glanced at his watch again.

"Shall we make lunch together?" Harry asked.

"Yes," Hermione said. "I'd love to do that, let's go to the kitchen to have a look at what we could make."

They made their way to the kitchen, opened up the fridge and took a look inside.

"Pretty much everything here is raw," Hermione said.

"I'll have a look inside the food shelf," Harry said.

He walked to the food shelf, opened it, and saw that there are some canned foods inside, there were also sugars, and flours.

"What do you plan to make, Harry?" Hermione asked.

"I think we will make some vegetable soup together," Harry said, "if we have all the necessary ingredients."

Hermione went to the fridge and opened it.

"Yes, there are ingredients that we can use to make soup," she said, taking a few of them out and placing them on the bench.

"Even olives," Harry said. "Let's make a celery and olive soup, shall we?"

Hermione nodded.

After they finished making the soup, Harry checked his watch again, discovering that it was twenty minutes to twelve.

"There is bread over here as well," Hermione said.

"Since we still have time, let's make some pasta," Harry said, and Hermione agreed.

So they had soup and pasta for lunch, and Hermione cleared the table while Harry did the dishes.

o-o

Dan and Emma arrived back at four in the afternoon, and he simply didn't feel like cooking.

"I don't want to cook tonight," he said. "I am too tired."

"We will wait until Sirius comes back, and then we will discuss what we eat for dinner," Emma said.

As Sirius arrived back home, Dan told him that he would order two pizzas for dinner.

Sirius agreed, and Harry and Hermione didn't object this either as Dan went into the living room and picked up the phone.

A few minutes later, Dan put the phone down, and he waited.

Fifteen minutes later, there was a knock on the door, and Dan went to open it, meeting the pizza deliverer, then Dan took the pizza, placed them on the ground, then he took out a few notes from his pocket and handed it to the pizza deliverer.

"Thanks," the pizza deliverer said, walking away.

Then Dan closed the door.

After eating, Harry and Hermione went into the same room.

"How long do you reckon it would take for your parents to find out that some of the olives had gone missing?" Harry asked in a whisper.

"They won't know until they use it," Hermione answered.

"Should we even ask your parents whether they have appointments tomorrow?" Harry asked.

"You want us to do things on our own again?" Hermione asked.

Harry nodded.

"If we keep on asking, they will suspect what we are up to," Hermione said. "We don't want them to suspect that we are up to something bad. We will wait until we have another chance to do so."

"Right, we will find another chance to do so later, maybe tomorrow, maybe not tomorrow, we will see," Harry said.

On the following morning, Dan informed Harry and Hermione that he had appointments from nine in the morning to four in the afternoon, while Emma will have appointments in the afternoon from one to four.

"Right," Hermione said.

After lunch, Emma left the house, and a moment later, Harry asked Hermione what they should do now.

"Let's go for a walk, shall we?" Hermione asked.

Harry nodded.

They exited out of the house, locked the door, and started walking.

Several birds flew past them as they walked, and then they stopped at a place.

"There are full of shops here, and there are a few restaurants here as well," Harry said. "Sirius showed me this a few days ago. We could go and eat in a restaurant sometime later."

Hermione nodded wordlessly.

They walked on, and they saw a few more shops, then they walked back home, opened the door, and entered.

Harry checked his watch, discovering that it was about ten minutes to two o'clock.

Knowing that Dan and Emma won't be back until a few hours later, they held each other's hand for a moment.

"I've got something we can do, I guess," Hermione said.

"What?" asked Harry.

"Let's ask each other would you rather questions," Hermione said. "The questions must not be easy to answer, and you can only choose one option."

"Who should start?" asked Harry.

"You can start," Hermione said.

"Would you rather be fifteen minutes late to class or half an hour early to class?" Harry asked.

"Half an hour early, of course," Hermione answered. "Now it is my turn."

"Would you rather be able to read other people's mind or to have other people read your mind?" she asked.

"I would rather be able to read other people's mind," Harry answered. "Would you rather be wrongly accused of a crime that you didn't commit, or found guilty of a crime you did commit?"

"I'd rather be wrongly accused," Hermione answered.

"Would you rather find your true love; or a box with one million dollars inside?" Hermione asked.

"True love, of course," Harry said. "Would you rather give up on watching TV for a year or never be able to attend school for a year?"

"I'll rather give up watching TV for a year," Hermione said. "Would you rather lose your best friend; or all of your friends except your best friend?"

"I would rather lose all my friends except for my best friend," Harry answered.

"Oh!" Hermione said.

"I didn't mean to upset you, really," Harry said.

"Let's continue, then," Hermione said. "Your turn."

"Would you rather study twenty hours a day, or sleep twenty hours a day?" Harry asked.

"I'd rather sleep twenty hours a day," Hermione answered. "Would you rather get along with a friend who has so much fun with you but also jealous of you, or get along with a friend who is loyal to you but much less fun?"

"I'd rather have a friend who's loyal to me but much less fun," Harry said. "Having fun is not wrong, but not having too much fun doesn't hurt either."

o-o

Dan and Emma arrived back at quarter past four, and then they sat down.

Half an hour later, Dan went to the kitchen to cook.

At five o'clock, Sirius arrived back home, and then he went into the living room and saw Harry and Hermione.

"How's your day?" he asked.

"Good," Harry said.

During dinner time, everyone ate in silence, and after dinner, Emma went and did the dishes while Dan cleaned the dining table.

By seven o'clock, everyone gathered in the living room, and Dan switched on the TV.

One hour later, Harry and Hermione left the living room, and they headed into Harry's bedroom.

A moment later, Sirius arrived.

"Are you two planning something?" he asked.

"I certainly hope that we could," Harry replied. "At the moment, we don't know."

"Hermione, I want to inform you that your parents do not have any appointments for the rest of this week," Sirius said.

Hermione knew that Sirius's statement would mean that she and Harry would not be able to do things together on their own for the rest of this week without anyone's consent.

"Right," she said.

Then Sirius left the room.

"We will try again next week, Harry," Hermione said. "I love you."

"I love you too, Hermione," Harry said.

The rest of the weekdays passed without Harry and Hermione saying a single word about their relationship to either Dan, Emma or Sirius.

As the weekend arrived, Sirius told Harry and Hermione that Dan and Emma would have appointments all day next Monday and Tuesday.

Harry and Hermione both knew that the opportunity for them to do things themselves had arrived again.

Suddenly, it had started to rain.

"Oh no!" Emma said. "I just hung the clothes outside not long ago."

Sirius quickly Apparated out, took all the clothes back, then he used hot air charm on them, causing them to dry up.

"There you go," he said.

Emma approached Sirius and touched the clothes in his hand, it was dry and warm.

"Thanks a lot, Sirius," she said, taking the clothes away.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

**OWL Results**

Disclaimer: Everything in Harry Potter universe belongs to J.K. Rowling. I got nothing out of this except for enjoyment.

On the following Monday, Dan, Emma and Sirius left after breakfast, and then, Harry and Hermione decided to do something else, besides cooking together.

The weather was pleasant, the sun was shining in the sky, it would be a perfect day for Harry and Hermione to go out again.

Harry had kept his converted Canadian dollars in a money bag, and he didn't lose any of them.

"Why not invent some new recipes?" he asked Hermione.

"As long as we have all the ingredients," Hermione said.

"Let's have a look," Harry said.

They went to the kitchen and began to search for ingredients again.

"Hmm, the ingredients seemed to be quite ample," Harry said. "Let's do spicy chicken with frozen vegetables, shall we?"

"I never heard of such a recipe name like this," Hermione said. "Let's try it at eleven o'clock, shall we?"

Harry nodded.

As soon as eleven o'clock arrived, Harry prepared the ingredients, cutting the chicken into small pieces, whereas Hermione was busy preparing the frozen vegetables for cooking.

As soon as Harry finished cutting the chicken, he took a frying pan, poured some oil in it, then turned on the stove.

As the oil became hot, Harry poured the chicken in, cooked it until it was tender, and then he poured a bit more oil.

"Do I put in the frozen vegetables now, Harry?" Hermione asked.

"Yes," Harry said, and he began to sprinkle some hot pepper on the chicken.

Hermione poured the frozen vegetables in, and then Harry started to cook the vegetables.

As soon as they finished, it was already fifteen minutes to twelve.

"We have leftover rice as well, let's eat, shall we?" Hermione asked.

"Okay," Harry said.

After they had eaten, Hermione cleared the table while Harry went to do the dishes.

"We better not make this a habit, Harry," Hermione said after they had finished. "At least not for now."

"What do you mean, Hermione?" Harry asked.

"There is every chance that my parents and Sirius will find out about the fact that ingredients had gone missing," Hermione said.

"And what do you think they are going to say if they find out?" asked Harry.

"I can only hope that they will not go mad at us, but if they had planned to use some of the things that they had bought, they would probably be disappointed that the ingredients had gone missing and they had to buy it again if they need to use it in their recipes," Hermione said.

"And then we will have to tell them that we are dating, maybe," Harry said.

Hermione laughed, and she nodded.

Then she embraced Harry into a tight hug.

Harry lightly stroked Hermione's hair after Hermione had hugged him, and Hermione didn't resist, instead, she returned with a cheerful smile.

She leaned towards him and kissed him.

They were both overwhelmed together with happiness, and they lost in each other for a while, without disturbance or anything odd happening.

"Why don't we sleep in the same room one day?" Hermione asked.

"Soon enough we will, but we may not want to do this while we are in school," Harry said.

"I understand," Hermione said.

o-o

Dan and Emma arrived back home at half-past four, and they went into the living room.

They were exhausted after they had been working for a whole day, and they decided to sleep earlier.

Emma had no idea whether she would be having any appointments after Tuesday, although Dan had been informed that he would be having appointments in the morning on Wednesday.

Dan looked around, and he went to find Harry and Hermione.

He pushed the door of Harry's bedroom open, and he saw them in the same room.

Harry looked up.

"Hi," he said.

"I was just wondering where you are, Harry," Dan said. "How are you both?"

"Never better," Harry said.

Then Dan left Harry and Hermione, and made his way to the kitchen, and began to cook.

Sirius arrived back at five o'clock, and he made his way to the living room.

"How are you, Sirius?" Emma asked.

"I am all right, just a little more stressed than before," Sirius answered.

They talked for another forty minutes, and then Dan entered.

"Dinner's ready," he said.

Then Dan went to call Harry and Hermione, while Sirius and Emma went to the dining room.

A moment later, Harry, Hermione and Dan arrived, and they sat down.

It took them about twenty-five minutes to finish eating, and then Dan cleared the table, and Emma went to do the dishes.

Suddenly, a sound of glass breaking occurred, and then Sirius arrived in the kitchen while Dan went into his room.

"Reparo," Sirius said, pointing his wand at the glass, and the glass was repaired, then he placed the glass on the bench.

As soon as Dan arrived at the kitchen with a vacuum cleaner, he saw Sirius.

"I never dreamed that you would run into the kitchen when there is broken glass," he said.

"There," Sirius said, pointing his finger at the bench. "I repaired the glass, it can save money."

Then he put the glass away.

Dan looked in amazement, then he put the vacuum cleaner away.

Meanwhile, Harry and Hermione were in Harry's room again, and they didn't speak for a while.

Harry was relieved that Dan didn't comment on the missing ingredients so far, perhaps he didn't find out about it yet.

He decided to do something else with Hermione on the following day. Going out for a walk would certainly be an option, as long as the weather permits.

On the following day, however, the weather was very bad, it was rainy that Harry and Hermione could not go out.

"Let's play some puzzles, shall we?" Hermione asked.

"Sure," Harry said.

Hermione rummaged inside the wardrobe and pulled out a puzzle; it has one hundred pieces.

It was the first time that Harry had ever played a puzzle, and Hermione showed him how to put the pieces together.

Harry tried as best as he could, and he had managed to find some pieces, and after twenty minutes, the puzzle was complete.

"Do you have another one?" Harry asked.

Hermione nodded.

They disconnected the completed puzzle into pieces, and then they placed them back into the box. Then Hermione took the box and placed it back where it was before.

Then she arrived back at Harry's room with another puzzle, which also had one hundred pieces.

"This one is a bit more difficult," she said, putting it down and opening the box, then she poured all the pieces out.

Hermione's statement was proven to be right after she and Harry had started to play, about half of the pieces had provided no hint of where a piece would go.

It took them about fifty minutes to finish the puzzle, and then Hermione disconnected the puzzle, put it back in the box, and took the box away.

While she was away from his room, Harry checked his watch.

It was twenty minutes past eleven.

A moment later Hermione returned.

"I think we must have dozed off for a while," he said. "It is time to cook lunch."

Hermione checked her watch.

"Right, let's do it," she said.

As fast as they could, they arrived in the kitchen to find something for lunch.

"Let's just eat some leftovers from yesterday," Hermione said. "We don't want to waste anything."

Harry nodded.

After lunch, they cleared up the dining table and the dishes, then they went back to Harry's room.

The rain had still not been cleared, it was pouring down from the sky continually, and the wind was starting to get stronger.

Harry and Hermione looked out of the window, and they saw several people wearing raincoats, and some of them ran very fast on the pavement.

He didn't understand why there would still be people outside in such weather like this, and then he saw a police car went past their house, and the alarm was constantly ringing, which made him suspicious of what had happened near their residence.

Harry glanced at the picture frame that Joyce had given him for his birthday.

A moment later he turned back and sat next to Hermione.

"I hope the weather clears tomorrow," he said.

"You want to take me out again tomorrow?" Hermione asked.

Harry nodded.

"My parents did not mention that they would not be home tomorrow," Hermione said.

"How long do you plan to keep the fact that we are dating from your parents?" Harry asked.

Hermione shook her head, in truth, she doesn't know how she should answer this question.

As soon as Dan and Emma arrived back home, they sat down on the sofa.

"Luckily I don't have any appointments tomorrow," Emma said, "and you only have appointments in the morning."

"Do you think we should ask Harry and Hermione what they were doing at home while we and Sirius were away?" Dan asked.

"I think we should," Emma said. "I want to know what they are doing, but let's not ask them about this right now."

As soon as Sirius arrived back, Dan and Emma went to the kitchen to cook.

Sirius sat down on one of the sofas in the living room, and then Harry and Hermione entered the room and sat on either side of Sirius.

"How are you both doing?" Sirius asked.

"Good," Harry said. "It is just that we could not go outside because of the weather."

There was a short silence.

"I see," Sirius said. "According to what you had said, it seemed that you both had gone outside this house while we are not at home."

Harry and Hermione nodded.

"What did you do today?" Sirius asked.

"Playing puzzles," Harry said.

Sirius raised an eyebrow.

"A puzzle is a game, you simply putting pieces together," Hermione explained.

"Right, I'll try it one day," Sirius said.

After dinner, the weather was cleared, and Harry and Hermione sat down in the living room.

"Finally I can have a rest tomorrow," Emma said.

Harry and Hermione made no comments about Emma's statement.

o-o

On the following week, Harry and Hermione received their OWL results.

Harry opened his envelope to read:

**SAINITE ACADEMY OF MAGICAL ARTS**

**HARRY JAMES POTTER HAD ACHIEVED:**

Pass Grades

_Outstanding (O)_

_Exceeds Expectations (E)_

_Acceptable (A)_

Fail Grades

_Poor (P)_

_Dreadful (D)_

_Troll (T)_

Transfiguration: O

Herbology: O

Charms: O

Potions: O

History of Magic: O

Defense Against the Dark Arts: O

Arithmancy: O

Ancient Runes: O

Harry smiled, and he knew that he would most likely be able to continue with these subjects.

"Here, swap," he said to Hermione, who nodded.

Harry reviewed Hermione's results, it was all Outstanding grades as well.

Hermione smiled as they swapped the results back again.

"Wait until Sirius hears about this," Harry said.

"I am sure that Sirius will be pleased with your results," Hermione said. "I'll show my parents my OWL results when they come back."

Harry wondered what his clone was really up to right now, and he wondered why his parents did not inform him anything about it.

Dan and Emma arrived back at two o'clock in the afternoon, and they beamed as they saw Hermione's results.

"Wow!" Dan exclaimed, hugging his daughter.

o-o

Sirius arrived home at half-past five, and he was delighted with Harry's results.

"I have to congratulate you, Harry," he said. "Your study habits had caused you to reach your goal. Keep it up."

After dinner, Dan, Emma and Sirius sat together in the living room.

"I want to know if my daughter had started to date with Harry or not," Dan said.

"Indeed," Sirius said. "They had been going out while we are not at home."

"That wouldn't be much of a big deal," Emma said. "I think we can allow them to go out on their own, they are not kids anymore."

Silence fell between them, and Sirius could only nod at Emma's suggestion.

Then Dan switched on the TV, and then he changed channels one by one, stopping at a channel which viewed Table Tennis game.

Sirius glanced at the game attentively, and after a while, he mentioned that he wants to play as well.

"We might consider buying Table Tennis equipment before this Christmas," Dan said. "I haven't been playing that since we had our own house."

"And this is at least something that Harry and Hermione can do," Emma said.

o-o

Joshua, meanwhile, didn't feel too pleased with his OWL results, although his parents didn't make any negative comments about his results.

He had only received one Outstanding, which was in Divination, and he received one Acceptable grade in Herbology, while in the rest of his subjects he was graded Exceeds Expectations.

He wondered what subjects he would give up on for his sixth year apart from Herbology.

Thinking back of his previous years of studying, he did not score high marks in his first year of magical education, and in his second year he scored a bit higher mark, and in his third year, his scores went down again.

He knew that his grades had sloped up and down year by year for the first three years, during his fourth year, he had scored better grades.

He also knew that he may not be able to catch up with the students who studied so hard that they would get Outstanding in most subjects, but he was satisfied that he didn't fail anything, and he had mostly Exceeds Expectations grades.

He knew that Joyce's study habits were not too bad, but he didn't know if her current study habits would be enough for her to pass her OWLs. He had heard that Joyce's parents had persuaded Joyce to put more time into studying as soon as she enters her fifth year, but he did not know if Joyce had taken their advice seriously or not.

He would have to wait and see, and he hoped that Joyce does not stumble in her fifth year.

But he had more things to worry about.

He knew that his sixth year was approaching, and he knew that he would have to put more time into studying, and if he could, he would drop a few subjects, to enable him to relax a bit. He had hoped to work in the Ministry of Magic as soon as he had graduated from Sainite.

Fortunately, the teachers did not issue him any homework for the holidays, and he decided that he would rather not study at the moment, as the sixth year textbooks had not been issued yet.

On the following morning, he was informed by his parents that John Lemus had invited his family to his house for Christmas dinner.

"This would be a good thing, since we don't have any plan for Christmas, Joshua," Joshua's father, Oscar said.

Joshua felt excited that he would be going to someone else's house for dinner. In truth, for many years, his parents had been inviting others to come to his house for dinner, so this was a change, that his parents do not have to cook much on that day.

He nodded.

After lunch, Joyce arrived at his house.

"Hi Joshua, how is everything going?" she asked.

"I am all right, I received mostly Exceeds Expectations in my OWLs," Joshua replied.

Joyce beamed, and she hugged him.

"Right, I just want to drop around for a few hours," she said as she took a seat in the living room. "I was going to ask you about your exam results, but you told me that before I asked you about it."

A moment later, Joshua's parents arrived in the living room.

"Hi Joyce," Joshua's mother, Allie said.

"Hi," Joyce said.

Allie walked out of the living room, and returned a moment later with some tea bags and a kettle of water, then she served tea for the two teens.

Joyce took a sip of the tea, and then she looked up.

"So you want to work in the Ministry after you graduated?" she asked Joshua.

Joshua nodded.


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

**Christmas**

Disclaimer: Everything in Harry Potter universe belongs to J.K. Rowling. I got nothing out of this except for enjoyment.

For the following few weeks, Hermione's parents hardly gone to work, since they didn't have a lot of appointments.

Harry and Hermione had gone out of the house for a little walk every day, except for the days of bad weather, and they no longer go out only when no one else is at home since Hermione's parents had agreed that they could do something for themselves.

Dan had managed to purchase the table tennis supplies, and he set it up in the living room. They frequently played table tennis when they had nothing to do.

As Christmas approached, Dan and Emma put up the Christmas tree in the living room.

The Dental Practice they worked in was closed until the day after New Year's holiday.

Sirius, on the other hand, had taken days off from Christmas day, and he would be going back to work on the tenth of January. 

Harry frequently saw Sirius and Hermione's parents discussing what they would be doing for Christmas, and he wondered if he should help out with the cooking.

However, as soon as he told Sirius about his thoughts on this matter in the evening, Sirius shook his head.

"You don't need to do that, Harry," he said.

Harry nodded.

"There will be loads of great dishes on the evening of Christmas Day," Sirius said. "We will celebrate Christmas together."

A moment later, Hermione arrived.

"Can you please come with me for a moment, Harry?" she asked.

Harry beamed, and he nodded.

He followed Hermione to her room, and they sat down.

"Harry, you know that when I first arrived here, I had no idea how my life is going to be like, and I had no idea if I was going to be shunned by others when we entered our new school," Hermione said.

"Hang on a second Hermione," Harry said. "Were you friendless before you arrived at Hogwarts?"

Hermione nodded.

"Being friendless is not a new thing to me," Harry said. "You are brilliant, you are caring, you are kind, and you are sweet."

"And now things are different, we spent more time together, and we also become closer to one another," Hermione said. "You are the most important person to me, Harry."

"Hermione, I had to say this then, you never had interest in me because of my fame, you see me just as who I am, and you cared a lot about me," Harry said. "Because of this, I don't think there's anyone else I want to live the rest of my life with."

Hermione smiled.

"Now you've mentioned it," she said.

"Will you spend the rest of your life with me?" Harry asked. "I promise you that I will be by your side whenever I can."

"I'd love to," Hermione said. "I don't see any other people who would be fitting to spend the rest of my life with."

She slowly stood up and hugged Harry, feeling optimistic about her future.

o-o

Harry was so excited, now Hermione was his fiancée, and they would be spending their life together.

Hermione, meanwhile, was thinking about Apparition test.

She knew that she is already seventeen, and she decided to start learning Apparition, and she hoped that Harry wouldn't object.

As soon as she brought up this subject to Harry, Harry smiled.

"We will think about this after Christmas," he said.

"Right," Hermione said.

She brushed her hair with her hand while she gazed at Harry.

For the next few days, Sirius, Dan and Emma took turns playing Table Tennis, and they often gave opportunities for Harry and Hermione to join in.

Harry struggled with it at first, but after several days of practising, he managed it.

On Christmas day, Harry woke up, and he went down to the Christmas tree.

He saw a thin package that had his name on it, from Emma, and he guessed that it must be a CD.

And his guess was right, it was indeed a CD.

He searched further, and he found another package with his name on it.

He opened it up, discovering that it was a box of sweets from Sirius.

A moment later, Hermione came over, and she started to unwrap her presents.

After she had unwrapped her presents, Sirius, Dan and Emma arrived.

"Do you like your presents?" Emma asked.

"Yes," Hermione said.

"Yes, I like mine too," Harry said.

"I am going to cook breakfast," Dan said. "We will have a feast tonight."

After breakfast, Harry and Hermione sat down on the sofa, they were looking forward to the evening.

o-o

The Christmas dinner was very ample, dishes and dishes of food were placed on the table, and Harry and Hermione, as well as Sirius, Dan and Emma had sat down to eat.

After eating, Harry and Hermione went into Hermione's bedroom.

They cuddled each other for a moment on the bed.

This was an even better Christmas for Harry than the previous one.

"My parents would at least be proud of me that you are my girlfriend now," Harry said.

Hermione laughed.

"I suppose so," she said.

A moment later, they walked into the living room, and they only saw Sirius.

"Your parents are both in the kitchen, Hermione," Sirius said.

"We'll sit down for now," Hermione said, and then she and Harry sat down.

They waited for some time, and then Dan and Emma arrived and sat down.

There was a moment of silence, and then Dan mentioned that they had leftovers for boxing day.

"Which means we don't have to cook much tomorrow," Emma said.

o-o

After breakfast on the following day, Joshua and his parents arrived at Harry and Hermione's house.

"I never expected you guys to turn up here today," Harry said.

"How's your Christmas?" asked Joshua.

"Good," Harry said.

Joshua and his parents made their way into the living room, and they sat down.

Then he saw Harry and Hermione holding each other's hand, and he realised that something must have happened between them.

"How was your Christmas, Joshua?" Harry asked.

"It was quite fun, we went to John Lemus's house for dinner," Joshua said.

"What's John Lemus doing right now?" Harry asked.

"He will be looking for a job in the Wizarding world after New Year's holiday," Joshua replied.

Harry decided to make no further discussion on this, so he decided to change the subject.

"Did you pass your Ordinary Wizarding Level?" he asked.

"Most of them are Exceeds Expectations," Joshua replied, nodding.

"How's Joyce?" Harry asked.

"She's okay," Joshua answered. "She's having a barbecue with her parents today."

Dan and Emma talked to Joshua's parents for a little while, and from their conversations, they knew them better.

"My husband, Oscar had joked about travelling to this house by Floo powder," Allie said.

"Muggle houses are not supposed to be connected to Floo network," Harry said at once, he knew this from Arthur Weasley's description before he had been collected from the Dursleys before his fourth year at Hogwarts.

"Only I told him that if we are going to do so, we don't know what would happen," Joshua said. "Since I have already been to this house once before, I knew it is a Muggle house."

Oscar felt slightly embarrassed, while Allie patted him on the back.

"Oscar got used to travelling by Floo powder when he was young," Allie explained.

"But I believe that you can apparate," Harry said.

Oscar and Allie both nodded.

"What about you two?" Oscar asked.

"None of us had taken our apparition lessons yet," Harry admitted. "I am not seventeen yet, by the way."

"We will take our lesson during the school holidays in our sixth year," Hermione said.

"Your school will provide apparition lesson, I believe," Oscar said.

"We passed our apparition test while we are in school," Allie said.

Hermione shook her head.

"Sainite Wizarding Academy used to give Apparition lessons to those who are seventeen or will be seventeen in less than twelve months, but they don't do that anymore," she said.

Oscar and Allie looked at each other for a little while.

"We studied in Nesassino Wizarding Academy," Oscar said. "One of my friend's child had been taking Apparition test in that school."

"Sainite Wizarding Academy is the youngest Wizarding school in this country," Hermione said.

"We first heard of Sainite Wizarding Academy when Joshua was five years old," Allie said.

"We debated whether we should send him to Sainite or Nesassino since there's not much difference between the two schools. When Joshua was nine years old, we heard that Sainite Wizarding Academy had opened a uniform shop, so we decided to send him there for the sake of convenience," Oscar said. "We had interviewed the teachers in Sainite, and acknowledged that the staff in Sainite takes the education and discipline of every student seriously, and they also had good experience of teaching."

"Before I was in my third year in Sainite, I received a notification that textbooks would be issued to the students at the first week of the start of the term," Joshua went on. "I don't know whether Nesassino had decided to do this or not as of now."

Harry and Hermione glanced at each other for a moment, then they turned their attention to Joshua.

"Don't know why Sainite only has six years of study instead of seven," Hermione said.

"Nesassino have only six years of magical education which are compulsory, there are three additional years which are optional, but it will be part-time training classes, and it will mostly be practical classes which you can retake if you fail the tests," Allie said. "Training courses may be compulsory if you want to teach in that school."

"Hogwarts has seven years of study though," Harry said.

"Every Wizarding schools are different, and they differ depends on countries as well," Joshua said.

o-o

On the following day, Harry received their letters from Sainite about the term dates.

_The school will start on the sixth of January, a feast will be held in the hall at 5.30 pm._

_Note: the school will open at half-past three, students are to arrive at the school at least half an hour before the feast starts._

**Term Dates in 1997**

Term One: 6th January to 28th March

Term Two: 15th April to 25th July

Term Three: 10th August to 7th November

_Note: Students will need to buy parchments and quills._

_To get to Sainite, hold the screw provided in the envelope, and say 'Final'._

Harry knew that his sixth year will be serious; because he would be sitting their UWS tests.

Apart from UWS, he knew that he will also be taking his Apparition lessons and test.

He placed all the parchments back into the envelope, then he placed the envelope on the desk of his room.

After he showed Sirius about the letter from Sainite, Sirius smiled.

"Right," he said. "I hope that you will study harder than before, don't forget to keep yourself out of trouble."

Harry nodded.

There was a moment of silence.

"What are we going to do for New Year?" asked Sirius.

"Maybe we should invite someone to come to our house," Harry said.

"Who do you suggest?" Sirius asked.

"I'll see if Herbert Weaver has time," Harry said. "I'll write a letter and ask him."

o-o

Harry received Herbert's reply on the following morning.

_Dear Harry_

_To be honest with you, we don't have any plans for New Year, so coming to your house for dinner would be awesome, and my parents had agreed to accompany me and my brother to come, please reply with your address._

_John Lemus and his parents don't have any plans for New Year either, it would be good if you let him come to your house on that day too._

_Regards_

_Herbert Weaver_

Harry quickly wrote his reply, saying that John Lemus and his family will also be welcome to attend, and then he sent the letter away.

Then he informed Sirius about the fact that Herbert would be coming to have dinner with them.

_At least this will be fun, _Harry thought.

He and Hermione went into the nearest jewellery shop, which was only a bit over three minutes away from their home, and bought an engagement ring for Hermione.

After they got home, Hermione opened the package of the engagement ring and put the ring on her ring finger.

The day passed with excitement, and Sirius was happy for Harry and Hermione that they had finally become engaged, Dan and Emma were grinning at their engagement.

They talked Sirius into putting Harry and Hermione's bed into one room, and Sirius agreed that he would help them to do so, the only thing is that they would make sure there is a certain distance between their beds since they didn't need to sleep together yet.

o-o

Herbert's family and John's family arrived at four in the afternoon, and Dan and Emma graciously invited them in.

"Hi Harry," Herbert said.

"Hi Herbert," Harry said.

Herbert's father, Walter, and Herbert's mother, Tiffany, walked up to Dan and introduced themselves, whereas John's father walked directly to Harry.

"Hi Harry, I am Jesse, and this is my wife, Lucille," John's father said.

"Nice to meet you guys," Harry said.

There was a short silence, and Hermione felt that John was thinking of something, and Herbert's brother, Emmitt was staring in the kitchen.

Hermione invited John, Herbert, and Emmitt into her bedroom, and Harry followed them in.

"So how are you two doing?" John asked. "Did you pass your OWLs?"

Harry and Hermione nodded.

"All Outstanding," Hermione said.

"How about your UWS, John?" Harry asked.

"I passed mostly with Exceeds Expectations, two Outstandings in Potions and Herbology," John responded.

"Do you know what you are going to do yet?" Harry asked.

"I have been thinking about this, but I am not too sure yet," John replied.

Emmitt couldn't hold back his excitement of starting school this year, right after he had asked Herbert about Sainite.

"By the way, Harry, this is my brother Emmitt, he is going to start school this year," Herbert said.

"How do you feel about this, Emmitt?" asked Harry.

"Excited," Emmitt replied.

Harry and Hermione both frowned; since they had never attended Sainite from scratch, they didn't have any idea about what the school would be like for the first years.

John, on the other hand, started to giggle, and Emmitt was curious why he wanted to giggle; until Herbert patted him on the back.

"Now, now, Emmitt, let me remind you that these two didn't start their magical education here," he said. "It would not be a wise idea to ask transferring students about this, because they wouldn't have much of a clue about this."

Emmitt turned to look at his brother, and then he looked down on the ground.

"If you ask us about what fifth-year classes are like, we can give you with some information," Harry said.

At this point, Emmitt felt a surge of embarrassment about the question he had asked Harry.

o-o

By six o'clock, the dinner was ready.

John had helped himself with a boiled potato, while Harry helped himself with a few pieces of ham, and soon enough, everyone was eating quietly.

"Herbert mentioned you quite a few times during the school holidays, Harry," Walter said.

"Emmitt had desperately wanted to meet you, Harry," Tiffany said. "He couldn't wait to start his first day in Sainite."

Sirius beamed as they were speaking, and he could only nod at the topic they were on about.

The fact that he had met some new people was a rather great thing for him, and he decided to get to know them a little bit more after dinner.

After Harry and Hermione ate as much as they could, they departed the dining table, and John followed them into Harry's room.

"So Harry, have you started dating anyone yet?" he asked.

"I and Hermione are engaged already," Harry answered.

"Congratulations, Harry," John said. "I dated a few people but haven't found anyone yet."

He glanced around and saw the picture frame hanging on the wall.

"The frame looks nice," he said.

"Indeed," Harry agreed. "I got it on my birthday."

A moment later, Herbert and Emmitt entered.

"Herbert, Emmitt, come in," Harry said.

"We just explored the other room for a few moments," Herbert said.

Harry sighed.

"Did you find anything interesting?" Hermione asked.

"Not much," Emmitt admitted. "I didn't want to mess up that room anyway, so we didn't explore much there. My parents had reminded me to try and not touch anything without the owner's permission."

o-o

Walter and Tiffany were fascinated with the Table Tennis Table that Dan and Emma had bought, and they hoped to buy one later for themselves.

"We are both half-bloods, by the way, so we do have some Muggle background before us," Walter said.

Sirius raised an eyebrow.

"My parents were both Muggleborns," Tiffany said. "Walter's mother was a Pureblood, and his father was a Muggle."

"I did play Table Tennis when I was a kid," Walter said. "I wanted to get a Table Tennis table a long time ago, but we kept on forgetting about it."

Tiffany nodded, and she knew that Herbert and Emmitt can both play Table Tennis as well.

"Dan, you must have been busy, I guess," Tiffany said.

Dan nodded.

Jesse and Lucille listened as they talked, and decided to not interrupt them.

As soon as Sirius had mentioned that he would not go back to work until the tenth of January, Jesse had something to say.

"You have longer holiday period than we do, we have to go back to work on the fifth of January," he said.

Sirius didn't say anything at this point.

"The food was great, by the way," Jesse said.

"Were you busy at work, Jesse?" Sirius asked.

"Indeed," Jesse said. "We are both working in the Ministry of Magic as Hit Wizards."

"What about your son?" Sirius asked.

"Pity that my son did not pass his Defense Against the Dark Arts OWL, or else he would have already considered this path. Currently, he is considering to become a Newspaper reporter in the Wizarding World," Jesse replied. "Otherwise he may have to consider a teaching position if he failed to acquire the job of being a Newspaper reporter."

A/N: Here you go, another chapter done.


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

**Sixth Year Starts**

Disclaimer: Everything in Harry Potter universe belongs to J.K. Rowling. I got nothing out of this except for enjoyment.

Over the next few days, Harry and Hermione knew that they would soon be starting their sixth and final year of magical education in Sainite.

They knew that this year would be an important year to them, and they would be having more homework than before.

Sirius had taken Harry and Hermione to the shop he had worked, and Harry and Hermione bought more parchments and quills to use in school.

On the sixth of January, Harry and Hermione put on their school uniform at five o'clock, and then they grabbed their trunk, took their portkey and muttered the activation word.

Soon, they found themselves outside Sainite again, and they were standing near a crowd of students, they followed them into the school grounds.

At five o'clock, Professor Baker arrived, and he waved his wand once to label the trunks, and then he waved his wand another time to get the trunks away.

After that, he waited for another fifteen minutes, and another five students arrived, then Professor Baker labelled and vanished their trunks, and led the students into the hall, and motioned them to sit down.

Then he went to the staff table.

Then he asked the students to pay attention, and the entire hall fell silent.

"Welcome to another year in Sainite. To those of you who do not know me, my name is Professor Adrian Baker, the Headmaster of this school."

"School rules are placed on the wall of the common room, you can take a look at them at your leisure," he said. "If this is your first time here, please remain in the Hall after the feast."

A moment later, the cooks came out, placing the food they cooked on the long table that had appeared not long ago, then they left.

"Now you can come and take your food," Professor Baker said.

The students got to their feet, they took their plate, and they began to fill it. After they filled their plate, they sat down on one of the tables, then they started eating.

It happened that Harry and Hermione sat with Joyce and Joshua. Joyce's mood was better than before, and she beamed when she saw Harry and Hermione.

Herbert, along with his brother, sat a few tables away from Joyce, and they were eating quietly.

Emmitt was a bit too excited, and he glanced around the hall.

"You can speak with Harry later, Emmitt," Herbert said.

Emmitt nodded.

He glanced around, saw some other first years buzzing excitedly, some of them were talking about lessons, and some of them were talking about making friends.

A few hours later, Professor Baker announced that it is time to go to bed.

Harry and Hermione got to their feet and made their way to their dormitory.

Once Harry entered his dormitory, he took off his clothes and placed them in the box under the bed, then he laid down and slept.

o-o

On the following morning, Harry woke up, got out of his bed and dressed, then he walked out of the dormitory, meeting Hermione.

Together, they walked to the hall for breakfast.

After breakfast, Professor Baker began to sort out the sixth years of what classes they would be taking this year.

He approached Hermione first.

"Any subjects you want to drop, Miss Granger?" he asked.

Hermione shook her head.

"Here is your timetable, then," Professor Baker said.

Hermione took the timetable, glanced at it and left.

Then Professor Baker reached Harry.

"Any subjects you want to drop, Mr Potter?" he asked.

Harry shook his head.

"Very well, here is your timetable," Professor Baker said.

Harry took the timetable, glanced at it, and left.

Once he went back to the common room, he sat down.

He knew that he won't be having any lesson until a quarter past twelve, which is Charms.

"At least we could relax for now, since we don't have our textbooks," he said to Hermione.

"Let's see if we can take this time to get to know more people, then," Hermione said.

The first years sat together, and Harry and Hermione felt they would have no class until later.

"When will you guys have classes?" Harry asked the first-year boy who sat next to him.

"Quarter past eleven," the first-year boy answered. "What is your name, by the way?"

"Harry Potter, and what is your name?" Harry asked.

"Andy Morales," the boy replied.

He glanced beside Harry for a moment as the brunette girl sitting beside Harry smiled.

"Who is that girl sitting beside you, Harry?" he asked.

"Her name is Hermione Granger," Harry replied.

Hermione walked over to Andy and shook hands with him.

"What year are you two in?" Andy asked.

"We are in our sixth year," Harry said.

A few other first years stood up, and they stared at Harry for a moment.

"Hi Harry, my name is Jose," one of the boys said. "I and Andy are twins."

"So you are starting your first year as well, Jose?" Hermione asked.

Jose nodded.

"Do you have any other siblings?" asked Harry.

"Yes, we have two younger sisters, one of them turned out to be a Squib," Jose said. "I and Andy are Half-bloods, by the way."

"What about you, Harry?" asked Andy.

"I am a Half-Blood," Harry said.

"What about you, Hermione?" asked Jose.

"I am a Muggleborn," Hermione said. "I can only hope that you and your family are not against Muggleborns."

"No I am not against Muggleborns, and nor is my family against Muggleborns," Andy said. "Be rest assured."

o-o

Harry and Hermione made their way to the Charms classroom, as soon as they arrived, they sat down.

Professor Collins was sitting behind his desk, staring at the front as more students arrived, and as soon as everyone had arrived, he started the class.

"Welcome back to my class everyone," he said. "This year, we are going to be experiencing new Charms spells."

He paused for a moment.

"Since your textbooks had not arrived yet, you guys will receive no homework from me for this week," he continued. "However, since this is your UWS year, I encourage you to work hard, or else you may not be able to pass your UWS exams." 

Harry and Hermione knew that this year would both be exciting and busy, they listened as Professor Collins continued to talk about what spells they will be experiencing.

After the class, Harry and Hermione went to lunch.

By the time they had finished their lunch, they went to the library, and they decided to take out a few books to read.

Harry rummaged through the books, took out a few of them from the shelves, then he sat down.

As he was reading the book, Hermione smiled as she sat down next to him, and she began to read the book she just took out from the shelf.

"Wow, this magical plant is really interesting," Harry said as he skimmed the book lightly.

"And the spell that I just read is a very good one as well," Hermione said.

They were too wrapped up in their books that they barely noticed anyone walking past them, and suddenly they were distracted by the sounds of someone tapping their table.

They looked up and saw Joshua.

"Hi Joshua," Harry said quietly.

"I see that you two didn't have anything to do, so you want to read books in the library," Joshua said.

Harry and Hermione glanced at Joshua.

"Do you have anything to do?" Harry asked.

"I don't have anything to do either," Joshua said.

Harry and Hermione kept on reading until half-past four, and then they checked out the books and left the library.

Once they were back in the common room, they sat down to rest.

A moment later, Alma arrived.

"Hi Harry," Alma said.

"Hi Alma," Harry said.

"Had a good holiday?" Alma asked.

"Yes," Harry responded.

"I am going to start a business once I graduated," Alma said.

Harry sighed.

"Did your family agree with you?" he asked.

"Yes," Alma said. "They said that they will provide me with start-up money, and then I will have to do the rest on my own."

Harry glanced at Hermione for a moment, then he turned back to Alma.

"Did you invent any products?" he asked.

"I did," Alma said.

She took out a chain and a lock from her pocket, then she fastened the chain around her ankles, and locked it using the lock.

Harry and Hermione stared at her feet, but then they saw her feet vanishing, and all they could see was a mist of shadows under her ankle.

Hermione gasped, and Alma unlocked the chain and took it off, then Hermione saw her feet were back at the place where it had been.

However, a few other students were not approved by this.

"Alma, you just scared the crap out of us," one of the third-year students said.

"There are other prank items that may be even scarier than this one," Alma said.

o-o

During dinner time, a few students whispered to one another, and Alma was among them.

After Harry and Hermione finished eating, they made their way back to the common room.

Ten minutes later, a few more students arrived inside the room.

Emmitt and Herbert took their seats in the common room, and they glanced around for a moment.

"We have no homework this week," Emmitt said.

"On the following week, there will be homework for us," Herbert said. "The reason that we don't have homework this week is that we still didn't get our textbooks yet."

"I can just relax this week," Emmitt said.

"Don't forget to check your timetable next week, because the subjects in the timetable will rearrange themselves after the first week," Herbert said.

"What do you mean?" Emmitt asked.

"The time of the subjects you have the first week will shift as soon as the second week of this term commences," Herbert replied.

Emmitt sighed.

"It will not change once you are in your fifth year," Harry explained.

He took out his timetable and glanced at it.

"We have Defense Against the Dark Arts and Transfiguration tomorrow," he said to Hermione.

o-o

On the following morning, after Harry and Hermione had finished their breakfast, they went to the library, since they wouldn't be having any classes until after the break.

As soon as break time finished, they went to their Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.

A few students had already seated, and Professor Bailey stood at his desk, and he greeted them as they sat down.

As soon as all the students had arrived, Professor Bailey started the lesson.

"Right everyone, let's start this class," he said.

"Since your textbooks hadn't arrived yet, I am not going to give you any homework this week," he said.

"This year, we will cover Wandless Magic, as well as some more powerful spells, and by the way, most of our lessons will be practical," he went on.

Harry felt quite good about practical lessons, and he knew that Professor Bailey had taught them well last year, and he believed that this professor will continue to do so this year.

After the class, Harry and Hermione went into the Transfiguration classroom.

Professor Wagner had lectured the importance of the UWS year, although he stated that he wouldn't be able to assign homework to the students until they receive their textbooks.

After Transfiguration, Harry and Hermione went to lunch.

Since they didn't have any class for the rest of the day, they spent time in the common room, reading books that they had gotten out of the library.

"This spell is really powerful," Hermione said.

"What?" Harry asked.

"This spell is a rather powerful spell to be used against your opponents, it makes them flying in midair, and they would fall on to the ground," Hermione answered.

"That means anyone got hit by this spell could die very easily," Harry said.

"If the falling causes them severe injuries, it would be quite less likely for them to survive," Hermione said. "This spell is not illegal, by the way."

"Better than using the Killing Curse," Harry said.

Hermione smiled.

"Don't know if we are going to learn this spell in Defense Against the Dark Arts or not," she said.

o-o

On the following day, Harry and Hermione checked their timetable after breakfast.

"We have History of Magic at ten o'clock, and Potions at quarter past twelve," he said.

They went back to the common room and waited.

The other sixth years were also waiting, Joshua was sitting on a seat not far away from them, and Alma was sitting beside him. Elisha wasn't there, as he had failed his History of Magic OWL.

Forty-five minutes later, Harry and Hermione set off for their History of Magic class.

They had to wait outside, as Professor Holland was still having a class with the students, and Harry was unsure what year was being taught at the moment.

Fifteen minutes later, the door opened, and the students inside began to walk out of the classroom.

Harry didn't see Emmitt, so he assumed that it wasn't a first-year class.

Just then, a group of sixth-year students arrived, and then they walked inside the classroom.

Professor Holland motioned everyone to sit down, and then he began his lecture.

"Welcome back everyone," he said. "I want to tell you that your textbooks will arrive today in the afternoon, you will hear an announcement about your textbooks soon enough."

Then he went on and lectured about the topic that they would cover for the year.

The class ended too quickly.

Harry and Hermione walked out of the class, and they went to the school grounds.

"How are your classes going so far, Harry?" Emmitt asked.

"Good," Harry said. "How are your classes going so far?"

"I am okay with it," Emmitt said. "The teacher didn't even give us any homework."

"As soon as the textbooks are being handed to you, you will have homework," Harry said.

A moment later, Clement arrived again.

"Hi Harry, Hi Hermione," he said. "How are you two doing?"

"Good," Harry said.

"What do you want to do when you leave school?" asked Clement.

"I am not sure yet," Harry said, and Hermione shook her head.

"I am not too sure either," Clement said.

o-o

At a quarter past twelve, Harry and Hermione made their way to the Potions classroom.

Once again, Elisha was absent, as he only gained an Acceptable in Potions, he was forced to drop the subject.

After everyone had sat down, Professor Warner lectured about the importance of the UWS exams.

"We are going to be brewing a lot of potions this year," she said. "Some of them will likely be tested as part of your UWS exams, so be sure to brew your potions correctly in class, and if you can't make it, practise how to do it."

"Since none of you has received your textbooks yet, I will not issue any homework this week."

After the class had finished, Harry and Hermione went to lunch.

"We will get out textbooks this afternoon," Harry said, as he helped himself to a few chicken drums.

"I can't wait for it to arrive," Hermione said.

After lunch, they went back to the common room, and sometime later, a voice could be heard.

_The textbooks had arrived. All students, please come to the hall as soon as you can to collect them._

Harry and Hermione got to their feet, and they made their way to the hall.

Just as it had been since last year, there was a long queue, and it took quite a bit of time for Harry and Hermione to receive their textbooks.

After that, Harry and Hermione went back to the common room, and they placed their textbooks inside their bags.

"We will start reading it soon enough," Hermione said. "I'll read mine tomorrow."

Harry nodded.

He took out his timetable and examined it.

He discovered that he have Herbology, Ancient Runes and Arithmancy on the following day.

o-o

On the following morning, Harry and Hermione made their way to the Herbology greenhouses.

As soon as all the students had arrived, Harry and Hermione looked around, but they didn't see Joshua. They wondered why Joshua didn't turn up in this class.

Professor Whitlock was smiling.

"Good day everyone, welcome to your UWS in Herbology," she said. "Quite a few of you had managed to step into UWS in this subject."

Harry looked around, and he discovered that there were only five students who are present in this class.

"Since you guys had already got your textbooks, let's turn your book 'Magical Plants' to page five," she said.

Harry and Hermione took out their books and turned to page five, and the heading said 'Effica Plant'.

The rest of the class passed without much of an incident, and as Harry and Hermione walked out of the class, they knew that there're only Ancient Runes and Arithmancy left.

As they arrived at Ancient Runes classroom one hour before lunch, Professor Hampton announced that they would be covering advanced rune translations and such. Some of them would be in the UWS exams.

The class passed too quickly, and Professor Hampton did not assign any homework to anyone at the end of the class.

After lunch, Harry and Hermione went to the Arithmancy classroom.

Professor Santos spent the class lecturing about the importance to their UWS level, and she mentioned that they would be covering Spell Modifications, Spell Extensions and such.

Harry and Hermione found it to be quite fascinating, so they listened very carefully to the professor.

After the class, Harry and Hermione walked out of the classroom with elation, although they knew that Spell Modifications and Spell Extensions would be more difficult than Spell Creation.

A/N: So here you go, another chapter done.


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25

**A New Law Consideration**

Disclaimer: Everything in Harry Potter universe belongs to J.K. Rowling. I got nothing out of this except for enjoyment.

Over the weekend, Harry and Hermione studied hard, and they only spent a few hours at the school grounds. No other students had ever complained about this, as they knew that Harry and Hermione are in their sixth year, and they knew their study habits.

Emmitt was not as interested in studying as Herbert. He liked some of the subjects in Sainite, but not all of them.

Herbert had advised him to take the school year seriously, as he didn't want his brother to end up on repeating his first year. Emmitt responded by saying that he knew what he is doing.

Herbert could only hope for the best for his brother, that he will not turn into a slacker in school.

Emmitt liked to play with Jose and Andy most of the time, and he wanted to learn something from them.

Jose and Andy were both very keen on studying, but at the same time, they liked to have fun.

On Monday morning, Harry and Hermione checked their timetable after breakfast.

"We have Double Herbology first," Harry said.

They quickly left the hall and made their way to the greenhouse.

Once they arrived at the greenhouse, they entered. A short while afterwards a few other students arrived, but Professor Whitlock didn't turn up yet.

Harry and Hermione opened their Herbology books and began reading.

Five minutes later, they stopped reading and looked up, expecting Professor Whitlock to arrive soon, but she still didn't turn up.

They looked around, and then they noticed that all the students had arrived.

Another five minutes passed, Professor Whitlock arrived at the greenhouse.

"Sorry everyone, just had a meeting that took a little over eight minutes of the lesson," she said.

There was a short silence.

"So, who can tell me what is Grudio?" she asked.

Hermione raised her hand.

"Grudio is a plant that will help control the effect of powerful curses so that it will lessen the effect to someone who had been under a severe curse," she said.

"Right," Professor Whitlock said. "Next question, in what situation should Grudio not be used?"

Harry raised his hand.

"Situations like minor curses and jinxes, etc.," he replied. "Because Grudio will be less effective in treating minor curses than on severe curses."

Professor Whitlock nodded.

"Now, to take care of this plant, you need to make sure that you water it regularly," she said. "This plant can survive in all seasons, you also need to use a spell to give them the nutrition they need."

Hermione put up her hand.

"Yes, Miss Granger?"

"Are you saying that it is impossible to give nutrition to this plant with Muggle means?" Hermione asked.

"This is a magical plant," Professor Whitlock answered. "You cannot find nutritions for this plant anywhere in the Muggle world."

"The incantation of this spell is _Enocio Frobio,_" Professor Whitlock continued. "You need to use this spell on this type of plant at least once per three days."

After the class, Harry and Hermione went outside to the school grounds.

"Emmitt seemed to like this school a bit better," Herbert informed Harry. "He started to become interested in more subjects right now."

"That's good to know," Harry said.

He hoped that Emmitt won't be like Roy, who had never been good at studying.

"What class do you have next, Harry?" Herbert asked.

"Transfiguration," Harry responded.

o-o

After the break, Harry and Hermione made their way to the Transfiguration classroom.

Professor Wagner stood at his desk, waiting for the students to arrive.

He gestured Harry and Hermione to sit down, and then Alma and a few other students arrived.

They waited for another five minutes, but no other students had arrived.

"Let's start the class," Professor Wagner said. "If anyone arrives later than now they will be counted as arriving late."

"This year, we will be covering Conjuring spells, which will be coming up in your exams. We will also be covering Human Transfiguration," he said.

Then he conjured a rock using his wand, repeating it three times.

Then he put the students in pairs to practise.

Harry and Hermione find that this spell was much harder than Vanishing Spells, and they attempted it five times without success.

Professor Wagner walked around the classroom, giving his advice to the students.

"Mr Rogers, you need to concentrate, you too Miss Watson, and Mr Knight, there's nothing wrong with you except for lack of confidence."

After the class, Harry and Hermione walked out of the classroom, both were disappointed.

Ricky Rogers and Debra Watson both felt that their parents may not be pleased with their progress, while Eddie Knight felt rather puzzled.

They arrived at their next lesson, which was Defense Against the Dark Arts.

"Good afternoon everyone, today I am going to be giving you guys a little intro on wandless magic," Professor Bailey said.

"Now, wandless magic is useful if you don't have your wands but you still want to defend yourself," he went on, "however, it may not be capable to perform every spell in existence."

"Now, I would like to ask a student to come forward, let's see... Mr Joshua Robinson, if you would, please come forward, and I will demonstrate it," he said.

Joshua stood up from his seat and marched forward to face Professor Bailey.

"Take out your wand please, Joshua," Professor Bailey said.

Joshua whipped out his wand.

"Ready, one...two...three..."

Joshua raised his wand and yelled: "Stupefy!" while Professor Bailey raised his hand and yelled: "Protego!" Joshua's spell bounced back from Professor Bailey and hit him.

"Enervate," Professor Bailey said, and thin Joshua opened his eyes.

"Everyone, divide into pairs to practise, please," he said.

The students got to their feet, and Harry had managed to use his wandless magic to block a jinx that Hermione had sent him.

Ten minutes later, Harry and Hermione switched sides so that Hermione was the one to use the wandless magic, and she had managed to obstruct Harry's spell on her second attempt.

Professor Bailey walked around, and he tried to correct the students who had failed, overall, apart from Harry and Hermione, only three students had succeeded with their wandless magic skills.

After the class, Harry and Hermione went to lunch.

Suddenly, a thought occurred to Harry as he entered the Hall.

According to what Professor Bailey had said, that wandless magic may not be able to perform every spell that came to existence, he wondered if it was possible to invent a spell and incorporate it into wandless magic as well.

After he had finished his lunch, he checked his timetable again, discovering that he has Ancient Runes next.

o-o

When Harry confided his question to Hermione after their final class for the day, she gasped and shuddered, but then she fell silent.

"You can ask Professor Santos about this, but I would advise you to not attempt it until you know how to do it properly, or else you may be at risk of losing your magic powers, or worse – getting yourself killed," she advised him.

"I'll watch out for myself," Harry said.

He had no time to look up in his Arithmancy book since he had been given homework from some of the teachers.

While he was doing his homework, a few students walked out of the common room.

It took him a few hours for him to finish some of his homework, and then he got up; and placed his homework inside his bag, then he went downstairs for dinner with Hermione.

"How's your first week back to school, Harry?" asked Emmitt.

"Pretty good," Harry said.

He sat down with Hermione after he grabbed his food, then he started eating.

While he was eating, Emmitt and Herbert both sat down at the same table with him and Hermione.

"I hardly see these two not walking with each other," Emmitt commented.

Herbert put a hand over his mouth, attempting to shut Emmitt up as he felt that they might not feel good about Emmitt's comment.

Harry, meanwhile, had looked up, and he saw Emmitt giggling.

He didn't know what Emmitt was thinking, but after he glanced at Herbert, he knew that it wasn't anything good from Emmitt.

Emmitt went up to a group of other first years, muttered something to them, and they started to laugh.

"My brother was a bit of a joker sometimes, and he occasionally likes to make fun of other people," Herbert said. "He was like this in primary school as well."

Harry looked at Hermione for a moment.

"He will get better," Herbert said.

After dinner, Harry went back to the common room, then he began to do the rest of his homework.

As soon as he finished his homework, he put his homework inside his bag, then he looked around, and saw Hermione, who was still writing.

He looked at his watch, saw that the time was eight twenty.

He moved away from her and sat down.

Ten minutes later, Hermione stood up, took her finished homework and placed it back into her bag.

"I am going to bed now, Harry," she said, then she hugged him before she set off. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight," Harry said, and he went to the boys' dormitory.

o-o

On the following morning, Harry remembered what he had considered on the previous day, about the incorporation of an invented spell into wandless magic, and he thought that it would be a good idea to ask the Arithmancy teacher about this, but he knew it would be best to wait until the following day, since Wednesday was the day that break time follows Arithmancy.

During their Charms class, Professor Collins announced that they would be using Non-Verbal spells, as well as wandless magic.

Even though Harry and Hermione liked the class, the spells that they had learnt were not easy, they tried the spells several times without success.

At the end of the class, Professor Collins asked the students to practise these spells that they had learnt for homework.

"Most of these spells are easy to cast but you need to concentrate hard to do them correctly," he said.

Harry and Hermione went off to lunch, but they didn't feel too good about the spells that Professor Collins had taught.

They knew that asking the other students about these spells would be just the same as not asking them at all; since they didn't see anyone else performing better at these spells in class. After all, the sixth year is the final year in this school.

After lunch, Harry and Hermione made their way to the Potions classroom.

Professor Warner was sitting at the desk, and then the other students arrived inside and took their seats.

"Good afternoon everyone," Professor Warner said. "Before we start to make today's potion, I would like to see if you can identify these potions."

She took a potion and began to speak.

"Who can tell me what this potion is?"

Harry's hand shot up into the air before Hermione's, and then a few more students put their hands up.

"Mr Potter, it seems that you can identify it, tell me what this potion is," Professor Warner said.

"This Potion is known as Polyjuice Potion, it transforms you into someone else once you drink it, the person who you transform into will depend on the hair you added into the potion," Harry said.

"Correct, and this answer turned out to be quite complete," Professor Warner said.

Then she held up another bottle of potion.

"Who can tell me what this potion is?" she asked.

Hermione's hand shot into the air before anyone else this time.

"It is Felix Felicis, it makes the drinker lucky," she answered.

"Correct," Professor Warner said.

She placed Felix Felicis back onto her desk, and then she held up another bottle of potion.

"Who can tell me what this potion is?" she asked.

Harry's hand shot into the air before Hermione had time to react.

"This is Amortentia, it is the most powerful love potion in the world, it causes the drinker to become obsessed with the person who gives them this potion," he said.

Professor Warner beamed, and she nodded.

"From what Mr Potter had said, Amortentia is a type of love potion, but it causes someone to become obsessed with the person who gave it to them," she said. "This potion does not create true love, and it is also quite dangerous. I would advise you to never use love potion to seek true love."

Harry and Hermione both sighed.

"Years ago, I have seen countless times that Love Potions were being taken into the school and being used on certain students," Professor Warner said. "This caused breakups of certain people sometime later, and the Wizarding hospital had identified a good number of people who had been under the influence of Love Potion for quite a few years. This caused the Ministry of Magic to take very strict actions on this type of potion, that it may be used for demonstration only. Early this year, the Ministry of Magic had decided to seriously consider banning the use of Love Potions, except that the law had not yet been passed."

Harry raised his hand.

"Professor, is there a way to help identify who had been giving the love potion to someone else?" he asked.

Professor Warner frowned, and then she shook her head.

"No, Mr Potter, at least not now," she said. "There are spells out there that can prevent Love Potions from taking effect on you, though. The only thing is that very few Wizards had bothered to use them as most Wizards have no idea whether they would be under the influence of Love Potion or not, and these spells have ups and downs."

"Ups and downs, like what?" Hermione asked.

"Some of these spells can only last for a limit time," Professor Warner said. "A few of these spells may last until you die, Soul Bonding spell produces the best result, and it prevents all type of love potions from taking effect, but it can cause trouble at first, Century love spell lasts one hundred years, and this one is the most commonly used spell to prevent Love Potions from taking effect on a person, except that it would not be totally effective in preventing the effects of all types of love potions from taking place."

Hermione beamed.

"It is not advised to use Counter Love Potion spells to prevent Love Potions from taking effect, though," Professor Warner said. "Now it is time to brew the Draught of the Living Death, turn your potions book to page fifteen for the recipe."

The students got to their feet, and they began to brew the potion.

Professor Warner smiled as she walked past Harry and Hermione, they were brewing the potions correctly, and she stopped when she saw Eddie's potion, which didn't look like how it was supposed to look like, she shook her head and walked away.

After the class, Harry and Hermione walked out of the classroom, and they made their way back to the common room.

Then they began to do the homework that the teachers had given them.

After dinner, Harry and Hermione went back to the common room, and they met Herbert and Emmitt again.

"Has anyone been using Love Potions in this school before I and Hermione arrived here?" asked Harry.

"Only one incident that I know of, during my second year," Herbert said. "There was a sixth-year student who had used a love potion on someone else, and he got suspended from classes for two weeks because of it. The teachers had warned him that if he does such a thing like this again he would be expelled from this school, and may face trials in the Ministry of Magic."

Emmitt seemed to show some kind of interest in this topic. He giggled as soon as Herbert finished speaking.

This caused some students in the room to turn and stare at Emmitt, apparently they suspected Emmitt might find that using Love Potions on someone else would be a fascinating thing for him.

"I hope that you don't use Love Potions, Emmitt," Herbert said warningly, patting Emmitt on the back.

"Love Potion doesn't create love," Harry said. "It causes the drinker to become obsessed with the giver."

Emmitt shuddered at what Harry had said.

"Fine, I will not use it," he said reluctantly.

Harry did not know whether Emmitt was truthful about this, although he hoped that it was.

A/N

Here you go, another chapter done.


	26. Chapter 26

Chapter 26

**Datings**

Disclaimer: Everything in Harry Potter universe belongs to J.K. Rowling. I got nothing out of this except for enjoyment.

January had passed, and Harry and Hermione were working harder than ever, not only because more homework was given by the teachers, they wanted to pass their exams at the end of the year.

Harry had asked Professor Santos about whether he could incorporate his own spell into wandless magic, the answer that he got, however, was a little disappointing, that it would be more dangerous to do so than only letting one's own spells to be used with a wand.

He also did some research about the spells that would counter the effect of Love Potions, it wasn't all that good, although he had recently learnt from Professor Warner that there are antidotes to love potions.

Feeling frustrated about this, he decided to stop researching this for the time being.

Over the next few days, Harry and Hermione had finally mastered the spells that Professor Collins had asked them to practise.

During their Charms class on Friday, Professor Collins suggested Harry and Hermione move on a bit after they had demonstrated all the spells that he had asked them to do.

"Turn to page twenty-seven, you two," he told them. "Don't practise the spells in that page yet since most students are still working on the spells we had learnt over one week ago."

Harry and Hermione turned their books to page twenty-seven, and they discovered a few new spells, and they were all detailed with explanations of what the spell does.

"These spells are quite useful," Hermione whispered.

"Indeed," Harry said.

He turned his attention back to the book, not noticing anyone else practising the spells that they had learnt previously.

Professor Collins was not very impressed with the students' progress on the spells that they had learnt previously.

"I will give you guys one more week to practise these spells," he said. "You are now dismissed."

Harry and Hermione walked out of the classroom, making their way to Ancient Runes.

o-o

The rest of the day ended without anything special happening, and as soon as Harry and Hermione went back to the common room, they began to do their homework.

After they finished their written homework, they looked at their watch, discovering that it was five o'clock.

They walked down to the hall for dinner, and then they met Herbert and Emmitt.

Harry and Hermione took their food and sat down, and then Herbert and Emmitt came and sat next to them a bit later.

Harry decided to practise some spells after dinner, and Hermione agreed to do so after he told her about this.

"We didn't have any homework for Charms," Hermione said.

"Maybe it was because too many students fall behind," Harry said.

After they had their dinner, they went back to their common room, practising the spells that they had seen inside their Charms book.

It was a bit too easy for them, and they grasped some of the spells in only two hours.

They knew that they were a little bit ahead of the others, and they decided to study further tomorrow.

A moment later, Roy arrived inside the common room, grumbling, he was accompanied by Joyce.

"What's the matter?" Joshua asked.

"Roy had to repeat his third year," Joyce replied. "Even so, he still has trouble with the written homework."

"How do you expect a sixth year to help someone like him?" Joshua asked.

Joyce said nothing, she sat down and sighed.

"You expect a fourth year to help him?" she asked.

"A third-year student should be enough for this," Joshua said.

"Most third-year students shun him," Joyce said.

Joshua shook his head.

"What does this have to do with me?" he asked. "You started to do this to me, as you did with Harry and Hermione last year?"

Joyce said nothing, as she knew there would be no point to argue about this. She stood up and stormed out of the common room.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked.

"I don't know what Joyce is thinking, she seemed to be quite angry with me at the moment," replied Joshua. "I don't know if she will desire to get right with me anymore."

"Why would Joyce be angry with you for not helping someone else?" asked Hermione.

"Joyce was Roy's friend," Joshua said.

"Does Roy have any other friends?" Harry asked.

"Yes, but most of them turned away from him because he was too much of a slacker, plus he only wanted to have fun," Joshua replied.

"How many times had Joyce been like this?" Hermione asked.

"Joyce had acted like this far too often as of now," Joshua said. "She gets angry with people who refuse her advances for helping her friend."

Hermione felt as if it was someone who had been putting up with a girl who appears to be too insistent on asking someone else to help others, it was sickening.

"Go and find someone else," she suggested. "Why would you want to be with someone who fights with you for such a teeny thing?"

Joshua nodded.

"I am done with her now," he said. "I had put up with her for years, and now she acted like this too many times."

Then he left.

"I never thought that Joyce was like this," Harry said.

"You would never know until you take your time to find out," Hermione said.

o-o

On the following day, Harry and Hermione decided to help Joshua out, and they asked Joshua what sort of girl he wants to get along with.

"Someone good enough doesn't have to be too smart, though," Joshua said. "Attractiveness would, of course, be a good thing, but that is not the first and foremost thing."

"Just pluck up your courage and ask them out," Harry said. "You also need to maintain your marks so that girls will like you."

Joshua giggled.

"I'll try," he said.

He knew that he had to find out who he would be going out with next, and he was a little bit nervous asking someone out.

A fourth-year girl approached him, and he didn't know what to say to her yet, although he knew her name, which is Amanda Nelson.

"What are you doing here, Joshua?" she asked.

"I just broke up with Joyce," Joshua said. "Want to go for a walk?"

Amanda nodded.

They walked around the school grounds for a while, then they sat down under the tree, enjoying the lovely weather.

A group of other students arrived under another tree not far away from them, and they sat down.

Joshua saw Joyce kissing another student, and he didn't mind it.

"I just broke up with my boyfriend yesterday evening," Amanda said to Joshua. "He made too much of a fuss about my friends."

"Would you like to be my girlfriend, Amanda?" Joshua asked.

Amanda appeared to be slightly shocked at the question, after a moment, she nodded, and she beamed at Joshua.

At lunchtime, they went back to the hall for lunch.

After lunch, they went back to the common room, and they met Herbert and Emmitt.

"Where is Joyce?" asked Herbert.

"I broke up with her," Joshua replied, and then he told Herbert the reason that he broke up with Joyce.

Herbert nodded.

"I better not find a girlfriend like Joyce when I start to date someone," he said.

A moment later, a girl with black hair walked into the common room, her name is Gorgina Bell, a third-year student.

"Hi Georgina," Herbert greeted.

"Hi Herbert," Georgina said.

"Would you like to study with me sometime?" Herbert asked.

Georgina nodded.

"I don't know what your intention is, though," she said. "But I don't have anyone to go out with anyway right now."

"Let's just study together sometime," Herbert said.

"Sure," Georgina said, and together they headed towards the library.

o-o

Harry and Hermione were both in the library, studying, and they saw Herbert and Georgina arrived inside and sat down on a table not far from them.

A few moments later, Joshua and Amanda arrived and sat down on the table where Harry and Hermione occupied. But neither Harry nor Hermione had taken notice of their presence.

Just then, there was a noise of books falling off the shelves distracted Harry and Hermione. Curious of what happened, they looked around and saw a few first years trying to put the book back into the shelves when Elizabeth, the librarian arrived.

She pulled out her wand and waved at the books on the floor, then the books went back onto the shelf, and then she left.

"Is she always like this?" Harry asked Joshua.

"If any students had damaged the books, she may have to criticise them," Joshua replied. "For something as little as what happened just now, it would not be much of a big deal."

There was a short silence.

"Has any students in this school damaged the library books?" Hermione asked.

"As far as I have seen, no," Joshua replied. "This only happened once before I came into this school."

Although Harry and Hermione had been in the library numerous times, they did not ask about these matters. The fact that this library doesn't even have a restricted section made them feel odd. Was it because no books that contain dangerous content were allowed to be stored in this library?

Thinking back, Harry knew that a few students had brewed the Polyjuice Potion the year before, did this library have the book that contains the recipe of it? If not, how could someone brew the Polyjuice Potion? Did they buy the book from the Wizarding book store?

When he confided his thought to Hermione, she raised an eyebrow.

"This does sound strange to me," she said. "But this sort of thing isn't really meaningful to us."

"Unless if someone wants to try and use Polyjuice Potion to fool us," Harry said.

Hermione didn't speak for a moment.

Harry didn't know what to say to her right now, he didn't want a hard conversation to turn into a problem that would cause them to break up.

"Let's just hope that those people who brew the Polyjuice Potion get caught by the teachers, then," Hermione said.

Harry nodded.

o-o

On the following morning, Harry and Hermione went back to the common room after breakfast, and then they saw Joshua and Amanda arrived inside the common room to sit next to them.

Amanda introduced herself to Harry and Hermione, and they became friends.

"I am going out with her now," Joshua said.

"I am a Muggleborn, by the way," Amanda said.

"Me too," Hermione said.

"Most students in my year are Muggleborns," Amanda said.

Hermione stared at Amanda for a moment.

"Are you serious?" she asked.

Amanda nodded.

"I had been visiting a lot of my friends during the school holidays," Amanda said. "Most of them had completely non-magical parents."

Seeing Hermione's confusion Amanda added: "There are twenty students in my year in this school, including me, thirteen of them are Muggleborns, whereas the rest of them are Half-Bloods."

She paused.

"I knew that you are a bookworm, Hermione, from what Joshua told me," she went on.

Hermione didn't know what she should say. She simply stared forward at the wall. Amanda looked at her, and she realised that Hermione must be thinking of something.

A moment later, Hermione stood up and approached Amanda.

"What's wrong?" Amanda asked.

Hermione didn't answer, she simply stared at Joshua.

"Being a bookworm can be a good thing," she said.

"True, but a lot of the students here are not bookworms," Amanda said.

"I am not surprised about this, I have no recollection of seeing a single bookworm in my previous school other than Hermione," Harry said.

"This would explain why I was shunned in that school," Hermione said.

"Really?" Amanda asked.

In silence, Hermione told Amanda about her school life in Hogwarts, right up to the point where she becomes friends with Harry and Ron.

"So why did you two come here?" Amanda asked.

Hermione then told Amanda about what the Daily Prophet had been saying about Harry after Harry finished his fourth year in Hogwarts, and Amanda could not find any words of disagreement.

"So are you going out with anyone, Harry?" Amanda asked.

"Yes, I did this already, not to mention that there was already an engagement," Harry said, and he pulled Hermione to his side.

"We have been dating during the holidays," Hermione told Amanda, then she held up her right hand, which she had the engagement ring on her ring finger.

o-o

The following week was a bit of a disappointment for Professor Collins, only roughly half of them had managed to perform the charms they had already learnt properly.

"If any of you cannot make it this Friday, you can practise it on your own, but we will be moving ahead," he said. "I can only hope that you will be able to nail these spells before your end of year exam arrives."

Some of the students giggled.

"There are much more things to learn this year," Professor Collins said.

This made the students fell silent.

Professor Collins asked Harry and Hermione to continue to read books again, and he said he could not be bothered to check how they had progressed with the spells they had learnt in their previous lesson while the others were behind them.

"Even if there are still students who have trouble with those spells, I will have to carry on anyway," he said to Harry and Hermione quietly.

Harry and Hermione continued to proceed on from the page they had read last time in class, and they were fascinated with the spells again, however, they saw a spell that was a bit more difficult than the one that was listed on the previous page.

Even though they had already read that page before, they still didn't experience it practically.

Fortunately, this time, Professor Collins was more satisfied with the other students about their performance than last time, more students had managed to do the spells correctly.

As the class ended, Harry and Hermione went to lunch.

By the time that they had finished their lunch, they went to their Defense Against the Dark Arts class.

Professor Bailey announced that they would be having a practical lesson today, then he divided everyone into pairs.

Harry's partner was Alma this time, and they shot spells and hexes at each other.

"Essicio!" Alma shouted,

Fire shot out from her wand towards Harry, and Harry conjured a golden shield to block it.

Then Alma shot a yellow hex at Harry, and then Harry blocked it with a Shield Charm.

After one hour, the students were dismissed.

"Don't know how good he is," Alma muttered to Eddie.

Eddie, who had been duelling with Hermione, was equally disappointed that he didn't manage to block Hermione properly, and he muttered about this to Alma.

"Don't mess with her if you are not skilled enough," Alma said.

The Potions class was a bit more pleasant, although Eddie and Debra had forgotten to use certain ingredients that had caused their potions to not appear as it was supposed to be, and Professor Warner was disappointed.

"You better not forget your ingredients when you are doing your exams," she said. "I would not advise you to start from scratch again for now, or else you will only be wasting your time."

At the end of the class, the students who had managed to brew their potions correctly handed their potions in.

Harry and Hermione went back to the common room, and they began to do their homework.

At a quarter past five, they finished their homework, and they placed their homework back into their bags, and they went to the hall for dinner.

While they were eating, they heard Eddie and Debra muttering about ditching Potions class since they didn't think that it was a good idea to continue this subject.

"Why did you two want to continue it in the first place?" Ricky asked.

"We thought we were okay with this subject," Eddie replied, and Debra nodded as well.

End of Chapter


	27. Chapter 27

Chapter 27

**Apparition Lesson**

Disclaimer: Everything in Harry Potter universe belongs to J.K. Rowling. I got nothing out of this except for enjoyment.

Two more days passed, Friday arrived again. The students who had still not mastered the spells that they had practised a few days ago didn't feel too good.

A few of them were lazy enough to either forget how to do the spell properly or forget to practise them. They were not too keen on this subject.

As soon as Harry and Hermione arrived at their Charms class after break, Professor Collins asked the students to come forward to demonstrate if they could perform the spells they had learnt properly now.

To his amazement, most of the students had passed the spells, only a few of them didn't get it right.

"We shall move on now," Professor Collins said. "Turn to page twenty-seven, everyone."

Then he approached Harry and Hermione.

"I know that you have already studied the spells on page twenty-seven, but we will do it together in our next class, keep reading for now," he said, and Harry and Hermione nodded.

The class went on in silence.

Some students almost fell asleep in class, that Professor Collins had to wake them up. He was disappointed with the fact that some students had the gut to sleep in class.

"If you have trouble with a spell I will understand, but sleeping in class is not acceptable," he said.

After the class, the students were muttering with each other.

"You should have slept earlier last night, and you should have at least made a start on your homework before dinner time."

"You were one of the students who had been delaying Professor Collins from teaching us new spells, I am sick of having to wait for everyone else to catch up before I learn something new."

Harry and Hermione ignored the students' muttering, and they went to their next class.

o-o

After lunch, Harry and Hermione made their way to the Arithmancy classroom.

As soon as everyone arrived, Professor Santos started her class.

"Today we will be talking about Spell Extension," she said. "Spell Extension will extend a spell to make it stronger."

"Examples of Spell Extension includes Lumos, as well as Lumos Maxima," she went on.

Harry and Hermione listened as Professor Santos talked, they were transfixed about the topic.

Several other students, however, had asked some questions about certain things related to the topic, which wasted a little bit of time of the class.

After the lesson, Harry and Hermione went to the History of Magic classroom.

Professor Holland had asked the students to read page twenty, and he had issued the students homework, to write a ten-inch essay about the topic they had read on.

Harry and Hermione walked out of the History of Magic classroom, then they made their way back to the common room.

Upon arriving inside the common room, Harry saw Herbert and Emmitt doing their homework. He and Hermione put their bags down, and pulled out their homework, and began to do it.

As the dinner time approached, they were nearly done with their History of Magic homework.

During dinner time, a few first-year students had a bit of an argument about a difficult homework that the teachers had set them.

"It is not that difficult," one of the other first-year students said.

"It is not easy," one of the few first-year students who was arguing answered back.

Harry and Hermione could not help out with their argument, one reason was that they had never started their magical education from their first year here, and another reason was that they didn't think that helping anyone to do their homework would bring benefits to them.

The first years fell silent when Herbert walked over to them.

Herbert glanced at them for a moment, and then he left.

As Harry and Hermione departed from the hall, some students were still eating, and after they had finished, they made their way back to the common room, to continue doing their History of Magic homework.

It took them another half an hour to finish their History of Magic homework.

Just then, they heard a commotion coming from the nearby common room.

Curious, they went into the common room to have a look, and they discovered that there were students who tried to beat each other up.

A few students had managed to get out of that common room, and then the commotion suddenly stopped.

Five minutes later, Professor Holland arrived, and he was dismayed at what he had seen.

"Mr Snyder, you will be on detention with me tomorrow at seven o'clock in the evening in my office," he said.

Mike Snyder, the first-year student who had started the incident didn't say anything.

Harry and Hermione checked their watch.

"It's nearly eight o'clock," Harry said.

They went back to the common room where they had been before, and they sat down, then they saw Herbert and Georgina arrived.

"Hi Harry," Herbert said. "This is Georgina."

"Hi Georgina," Harry said.

"Hi Harry," Georgina said. "What year are you?"

"I am a sixth year, what about you?" asked Harry.

"I am a third year," Georgina said.

o-o

On the following morning, after breakfast, Sirius received the latest Wizarding newspaper.

He was slightly shocked as he started reading.

**Dark Wizards Attack a Wizard's Home.**

_At about nine o'clock yesterday, a few Dark Wizards had attempted to attack a Wizarding home in Alberta. Fortunately, no one in that home had died, one infant Wizard was injured, and is currently in hospital._

_One of the Dark Wizards among them had been captured by the Ministry Aurors. He is currently in custody, awaiting trial._

He put down the newspaper and sighed.

He was thankful that this incident did not occur too frequently, but he had no idea if such an incident would ever occur again. He was also relieved that the Ministry of Magic in Canada had taken action much faster than the Ministry of Magic in Britain.

A moment later, Dan and Emma approached him.

"What's up, Sirius?" Dan asked.

Sirius handed Dan the Wizarding newspaper, and Dan began to read it.

After Dan had finished reading, he handed the newspaper back.

"I just hope that no Dark wizards would come into our house to attack us," he said. "At least we are safe for now."

"And as of now, the only person who can use magic in this house is me," Sirius said.

"And if any Death Eaters -"

"No!" Sirius interrupted. "Death Eaters are known as Voldemort's followers. Dark wizards may or may not be known as Death Eaters."

"Than that means the Dark wizards are the ones that need to be arrested," Dan said.

Sirius nodded.

About one week later, Sirius received another news on the Wizarding newspaper, saying that the Dark wizards who had attacked a Wizarding family home had been arrested.

He felt a surge of relief.

o-o

Harry and Hermione were still quite busy during the weekend, even though they didn't get as much homework as they had before. They were looking through their books, and they studied one chapter ahead of the others.

Some of the other sixth years, however, had taken this opportunity as their advantage. They began to roam in the school grounds after they had finished their homework.

The fifth years were a little bit more busy than the sixth years, as they would be taking their OWLs this year.

After Harry and Hermione finished reading, they stood up again.

"Wait," Harry said. "We should consider learning how to Apparate."

"We could," Hermione agreed.

So they wrote a letter each to the Ministry of Magic to book an Apparition lesson, and they sent it out.

"Blimey, we could've asked Sirius about Apparition earlier," Harry said.

"I am not saying this is a bad idea, Harry," Hermione said. "But we will get there anyway."

Throughout the day, they chatted with their friends.

As Joshua and Amanda arrived, Harry mentioned it.

"Right, that's a good thing," Joshua said. "I should do it too. I'll write a letter to the Ministry tonight."

o-o

Harry and Hermione received their letters after lunch on the following day.

_Dear Mr Potter_

_Thank you for your interest in learning how to Apparate._

_I will send another letter which will include the time and date that you will be taking your Apparition lesson._

_Do you prefer to take your Apparition lesson in Sainite or the Ministry of Magic?_

_If you wish to take your Apparition lesson in Sainite, the teachers will inform the students that there will be an Apparition lesson taking place, in this case, other students who are already seventeen or will turn seventeen this year may join in._

_If you wish to take your Apparition lesson in the Ministry of Magic, then a registered portkey will be issued to you so you can use it to get to the Ministry._

_Please send your answer before next Friday._

_Regards_

_Brandon Blair_

_Head of Department of Magical Law Enforcement_

_P. S. There's a booklet enclosed with this letter, telling you everything about Apparition, please take a look at it in your leisure._

Hermione looked at Harry.

"What do you think?" she asked.

"Let's take our lesson here, it will give other students a chance to learn how to Apparate as well," Harry replied. "Plus that we don't have to go elsewhere to take it."

Hermione nodded.

So Harry and Hermione wrote back to the Ministry, saying that they would like to take the lesson in Sainite.

"Let's go and tell Joshua about this," Harry said.

"There may be no need for us to do this, as the teachers will inform the students about this anyway," Hermione said.

They started to read the booklet on Apparition.

Sometime later, Hermione closed the booklet, while Harry was still staring at it.

As soon as Harry closed his booklet, he smiled, and Hermione smiled back.

They placed the booklets in their bags, then they sat down again.

Just then, Herbert arrived and sat down.

"Hi Herbert," Harry said.

"Hi Harry," Herbert said. "Finished your homework?"

Harry nodded.

Herbert stared outside, and then he turned his attention on Harry again when Joyce arrived inside, stroking her hair for a little while. Her expression was dour.

Herbert did not turn to look at Joyce as she entered, a moment later, Roy arrived inside, and he sat down on a chair and collapsed.

Harry took a glance at Roy, and then he turned back to Herbert again.

"Something must have gone wrong with Roy," he whispered.

"I suppose so," Herbert agreed.

Harry knew that something must have happened to Roy, although he had no idea what it was, he supposes the most likely thing that had happened to Roy was that Roy had failed to get good grades again.

He turned to look at Joyce, then he saw her stomping out of the room.

He had no idea what was wrong with her.

"Don't worry about her," Herbert said.

o-o

Harry and Hermione received another letter from the Ministry of Magic on Thursday afternoon at around three o'clock.

_Dear Mr Potter_

_Since you have told me that you want to take your Apparition lesson in the hall at Sainite, an instructor will come on Saturday afternoon at three o'clock to give you a lesson._

_It will cost twelve Galleons per lesson._

_Regards_

_Brandon Blair_

_Head of Department of Magical Law Enforcement_

Harry counted the dates, and he discovered that the date they take their Apparition lesson fell on the school holiday.

As soon as he pointed this out to Hermione, she agreed with the idea to sign up to stay in school for the holiday.

Harry put the letter into the envelope and placed it back into his bag.

Then he began to do his homework.

He finished a few of his homework at half-past five, and then he went to the hall for dinner.

As he was eating, Emmitt told Herbert something very disturbing.

"A potion incident had happened this afternoon," he said. "Someone's cauldron melted, and his skin got burnt by the potion."

"Who is he?" Herbert asked.

"Leo Fields," Emmitt said. "He's not very good at any subject in this school yet."

"This isn't something unusual," Herbert said simply.

After dinner, Harry and Hermione went back to the common room, and they continued to do their homework.

While they were halfway to finish another homework, Herbert and Emmitt entered the common room and sat down. Then they pulled out their homework and started doing it as well.

As soon as Harry had finished his homework, he checked his watch.

Seeing that it was nine o'clock, he decided to sleep.

He placed his homework inside his bag, then he went to bed.

o-o

As the weekend arrived, Harry and Hermione counted their Galleons.

As they found out that they had more than enough to cover even twenty days of Apparition lessons, they set their hearts at rest.

They took their time to finish most of their homework before lunchtime.

After lunch, they went to the school grounds when Joshua turned up.

"I heard that there's going to be an Apparition lesson today," he said.

"You are right Joshua," Harry said.

"I will join in with you," Joshua said.

So at a quarter to three, Harry, Hermione and Joshua made their way to the hall to wait, and he saw the Headmaster and a few teachers were there.

After ten minutes had elapsed, there was a young man in his thirties turned up.

"It is nice to meet you again, Clay," the Headmaster said. "These people want to learn how to Apparate."

Clay nodded.

The Headmaster waved his wand, causing all the tables moving to one side of the hall.

Clay looked at the three students, and he smiled.

"My name is Clay Spencer, I knew that at least two of you had received your Apparition booklets," he said. "Still, I wouldn't expect you to successfully attempt it for the first time."

Harry and Hermione both nodded.

"Now, Apparition is the way that Wizards use to transport themselves from one place to another," Clay went on. "There are three Ds for Apparition, Destination, Determination, and Deliberation."

There was a pause.

"Since this is your first time, I don't want to see you Apparate too far, let's do it this way," he said.

He turned to the Headmaster, whispered something in his ear, and the Headmaster nodded.

"You three follow me," the Headmaster said.

Harry, Hermione and Joshua followed him, and Clay followed right behind Harry until they reached the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.

"Let them Apparate to the Charms classroom," the Headmaster suggested.

Clay nodded, and he turned to the three students as the Headmaster left for the Charms classroom.

"For starters, I would like you three to Apparate to the Charms classroom," he said. "Kindly concentrate upon that destination now."

Harry's mind immediately concentrated on the Charms classroom, and he stood still.

"Secondly, focus your determination to occupy the visualised space! Let your longing to enter it flood from your mind to every particle of your body!"

Harry's mind immediately focused on what Clay had said.

"Thirdly, and only when I give the command, feeling your way into nothingness, moving with deliberation, on the count to three, one... two... three..."

Harry turned on the spot, but at the same time he lost his balance, Joshua didn't move, and Hermione was a bit nervous that she didn't move either.

"This is just the first time, let's try again," Clay said.

For one hour they practised, and Harry had managed to successfully Apparate for the first time for once, and Hermione Apparated successfully a few tries after that, although she vomited. Joshua was still a little bit nervous after the hour.

"We will try again next time," Clay said.

Harry, Hermione and Joshua took out twelve Galleons each and handed them to Clay.

"Thanks," Clay said.

Harry and Hermione walked back to the common room, and they sat down again.

"Are you all right, Hermione?" Harry asked.

"I am okay," Hermione answered. "You don't mind me taking the Apparition test a bit early than you?"

"No," Harry said.

"Straight after you turn seventeen, there's no reason that you will fail as long as you concentrate," Hermione said. "You did make good progress, after all."

"At least none of us had splinched ourselves," Harry said. "Do you think it would be better to learn how to repair splinch damage?"

"If you didn't do it properly things could go worse," Hermione said. "Who would want to experiment splinching for the sake of letting us master how to repair splinch damage?"

"In some cases, we may have to learn how to do this properly anyway," Harry said.

"Are you seeking to be an Apparition instructor after you graduate, Harry?" Hermione asked.

Harry laughed.

"Not quite," he said. "You've got a point, though, since an Apparition instructor needs to know how to repair splinch damage, you need to learn how to do it if you want to be one."

"Have you ever heard any Wizard who had already got Apparition license splinching themselves?" Hermione asked.

Harry shook his head.

"Don't know if there is any point asking this question," he said. "I don't even know if any Apparition instructor would answer this question. Let's just focus on not splinch ourselves when we Apparate, ever!"

End of chapter


	28. Chapter 28

Chapter 28

**Apparition Mistake**

Disclaimer: Everything in Harry Potter universe belongs to J.K. Rowling. I got nothing out of this except for enjoyment.

Sirius, Dan and Emma were slightly disappointed as they saw Harry's letter.

_Dear Sirius_

_I would like to inform you that I and Hermione will not come home for the Easter holidays, as we decided to take Apparition test in school. We forgot to check the term dates before we confirmed with the Ministry of Magic about our Apparition lesson._

_Regards_

_Harry_

"Just for the sake of learning Apparition," Sirius said with a sigh, chucking the letter aside, and he shook his head. "Don't know if it was an accident that they forgot to check the term dates or they had intended to go this way."

Dan and Emma were a little bit unconvinced about what Sirius was saying.

"Our daughter is one of the smartest students in Sainite," Dan said. "She and Harry may have been a bit worried about their studies and accidentally forgotten the term dates when they enquired the Ministry about Apparition lesson."

"And the people in the Ministry must have thought that Harry and Hermione wanted to stay in school for the holidays," Sirius said.

"I just hope that they could come back home for the next holiday," Emma said.

Sirius nodded.

"And Harry would be taking Apparition test by then, I expect," he said.

He knew he was right, Harry would be turning seventeen on the thirty first of July, which means that he would be eligible to take the test.

"I hope that he doesn't fail the test," he said.

o-o

Harry and Hermione did not have much homework in the holidays, so they focused their attention on Apparition for the time being.

They had finished their homework before Friday, and they were looking forward to another Apparition lesson. Harry could only hope it goes better.

During the Apparition lesson, however, a few more students who were eligible to take the Apparition lesson had turned up. Elisha Daniels, Janet Lynch, and Alma Fleming had arrived to join Joshua, Harry and Hermione. This made Clay explain the full instructions again because new students were joining in.

Harry spun to his feet at once as Clay issued the command to Apparate, and this time, he Apparated successfully, and he had the feeling that he wants to vomit, but he held it back.

Alma and Janet both disappeared, but Alma left a fingernail behind whereas Janet left an ear behind.

One minute later, Harry felt better.

As soon as he got back to the room where Clay was in, Clay suggested that everyone try again.

"You both just got splinched," he told Alma and Janet after he repaired their splinch damage. "Splinching, or the separation of random body parts, occurs when your mind is insufficiently determined. To avoid it, you must concentrate continually upon your destination, and move with deliberation."

As soon as the lesson ended, Clay asked Harry and Hermione to stay behind for a little while.

"After the next lesson, we will practise Apparating long distances," he told them.

As the school term continued, the teachers were pushing the sixth year students to work harder than ever. The homework turned out to be mostly practical homework that they had to practise spells.

Some sixth-year students found this to be a good thing, as they didn't need to do too much writing, whereas some students found it a bit difficult, as they had not mastered some of the spells that they were asked to practise.

Even Harry and Hermione, who studied one step ahead of the other students, didn't find this easy, and for the first week of the term, they were restless.

While Harry and Hermione practised, some students around them muttered. After a while, they walked out of the common room.

Alma and Janet didn't have much time to think about their upcoming Apparition lesson, and Alma decided to miss one lesson.

Hermione returned to the common room from the library on Friday evening, and she sat down, looking exhausted.

"What were you doing in the library, Hermione?" Harry asked.

"Reading some new books," Hermione replied.

She and Harry hugged each other for a moment.

"I am going to bed now, goodnight Harry," she said.

"Goodnight Hermione," Harry said, then he made his way back to the dormitory.

Harry could only hope that the next Apparition lesson would turn out to be better as he lied down on his bed.

During the following afternoon, a few more students who were eligible for Apparition lesson had arrived at the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, as they wanted to have a go at it.

Harry and Hermione had successfully Apparated as they started to do it the first time, whereas all of the students who attended the lesson for the first time stumbled. Joshua still had trouble Apparating.

Clay dismissed Harry and Hermione early, and he said that they will have their next lesson at a different location in this school, and he would inform them where it is when they meet in the hall on Saturday.

This statement caused Joshua and the others to gasp.

Joshua shook his head.

"Are we still going to have our Apparition lesson here?" he asked.

"Yes," Clay replied.

Then Harry and Hermione walked out of the Charms classroom.

Hermione then excused herself for the library.

o-o

"Where have you been, Harry?" Herbert asked as Harry entered the common room.

"I was having Apparition lesson inside a classroom," Harry said simply.

"I was looking for you, but I never checked any classrooms since I didn't think you were there," Herbert said.

Harry stared at Herbert for a moment.

"Where is Emmitt?" Harry asked.

"He got burnt by a Potion, and he had to go to sickbay," Herbert said simply. "Maybe you want to come with me to visit him."

Harry nodded.

Together, they walked to the sickbay.

"Are you all right, Emmitt?" asked Harry.

"The matron says I need to stay until Sunday evening," Emmitt replied.

"Good, at least you won't be missing any lessons on Monday," Herbert said.

"I better get back to the common room ASAP, or else my girlfriend will wonder where I am," Harry said ten minutes later.

Herbert nodded.

Harry made his way back to the common room, but he didn't see Hermione, and as soon as he went to the other common room, he didn't see Hermione either.

As he made his way to the library, Hermione caught up with him.

"Where have you been, Harry?" she asked.

"Sickbay," Harry said. "Emmitt is still recovering."

"I thought you were in the common room, but I knew that you were not there when I checked," Hermione said. "What happened to Emmitt?"

After Harry told Hermione what happened to Emmitt, Hermione raised an eyebrow.

"When did this happen?" she asked.

"Herbert didn't mention that," Harry said.

"And you didn't even bother to ask him?" Hermione asked.

Harry shook his head.

Before Hermione could say anything else, Joshua and Amanda arrived.

"Hi Harry," Joshua greeted.

"Hi Joshua," Harry greeted back.

Joshua and Amanda sat down, and they burst into speech.

"Do you think you will pass your Apparition test, Joshua?" Amanda asked.

"I am not too confident about this yet," Joshua replied. "At the moment I couldn't get the hang of it."

Then he explained to Amanda about what had happened during his Apparition lesson, and Amanda was a bit surprised that Joshua was practising it with Harry and Hermione.

"Didn't you even talk to your parents about this?" asked Amanda.

"My thoughts were somehow too clogged to think about this before Harry and Hermione mentioned it," Joshua replied. "I was more worried about my school work."

Suddenly, he stood up.

"I forgot to do one of my homework," he said, and then he took out his quill and parchment, and began writing.

Harry and Hermione considered for a moment, and Harry acknowledged that he had done all the homework that the teachers had assigned.

"It's still Saturday, and we still have time if we forgot to do our homework, though," Hermione said.

"Unless if you count the practical ones, we would still need to practise them," Harry said.

Hermione nodded.

"We will practise them, Harry," she said.

After dinner, Harry and Hermione went back to the common room and began to practise the spells. They only stopped practising when there were too many students inside the common room.

"I think I have mastered it," Harry said.

"Okay," Hermione said.

Harry looked around, then he saw several students using their wands to practise certain spells, which were the spells that they had already knew.

"Hope that the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher won't be disappointed about our progress," Hermione said.

"He won't," Harry assured her.

Joshua was also practising spells, and he had a little trouble at performing some of the spells correctly. Alma and Janet looked at him, and they were both shaking their heads.

"If you think you can do it, show me," Joshua said.

"You just got the pronunciation wrong," Janet said.

Alma was laughing at Joshua, and Janet shot an angry look at her.

"Guess I will have to ask Hermione about this," Joshua muttered.

Harry and Hermione knew what spell Joshua was talking about, so they walked over.

"_Evisio Talidium!_" Harry said.

A jet of golden light shot out of his wand, and a shield was formed between him and Joshua.

"That's the result I would expect," Alma said.

"Alma, I don't know if you can do this spell either," Janet said.

"_Evisio Talidium!_" Alma said.

The spell didn't work as expected, the jet of golden light shot out of her wand, but the shield did not form, instead, a burst of flame shot out of her wand.

"_Anisio Ignitis!_" Hermione shouted, and the flame vanished.

Alma didn't know what to say, she had already wrongly pronounced the spell and it caused the burst of flame in class.

"Try again," Hermione said.

"_Evisio Talidium!_" Alma said.

This time, her spell succeeded, the golden light shot out of her wand, and the shield formed.

"_Evisio Talidium!_" Joshua said.

This time, his spell worked.

"I made it," he said.

o-o

On the following Monday, during the sixth years' Defense Against the Dark Arts class, Professor Bailey stated that this would be another practical lesson.

"I would like every one of you to divide into pairs, and I want to see how well you use the spells I had taught you recently," he said.

The students got to their feet, Harry paired up with Janet whereas Hermione paired up with Eddie.

Harry fired a Distance Knockback Curse at Janet, who blocked it with a shield. Janet fired a wooden spear at Harry, who blocked it with a Shield Charm.

"_Flemio Scartis!_" Harry shouted, and a jet of orange light erupted from his wand, and it turned into a bunch of daggers. Janet fired a golden shield to block it.

"_Levicorpus!_" Harry shouted, and Janet was dangled upside down.

"It seems that Janet is down," Professor Bailey said, he pointed his wand at Janet, and muttered the counter spell of it, and the spell was lifted.

A moment later, Hermione had overpowered Eddie with a Pullback Charm.

The others kept on firing spells, and ten minutes later, most of them had overpowered their opponents.

After the lesson, Harry and Hermione went to lunch.

o-o

After the final class had ended, Harry and Hermione went back to the common room, then they started to do the homework the teachers had set them.

After Harry finished his homework, he saw Emmitt busy working. He felt that Emmitt must have failed to complete the homework that had assigned to him on Friday, that his work was doubled.

He took a glance at Hermione,

Seeing that she was still working, he knew he needs to wait.

He sat down, and he patiently waited for her to finish her homework, not wanting to talk to anyone else since he didn't want to distract her.

Half an hour later, he saw Emmitt standing up and placing his homework inside his bag and left the room.

Harry sat down again, waiting for another half an hour before Hermione placed her homework back into her bag.

He didn't understand why it took her longer to finish her homework, but he set the question aside as he followed her out of the common room.

As they went to dinner, they saw Herbert and Emmitt, but then they saw a few first-year students arguing about something. They ignored them, crept past them and went to the hall.

As they were eating, they saw the students who had argued with one another before still didn't settle down, and the teachers began to ask them what was going on.

After they had finished their dinner, they walked back to the common room, only that a few students caught up with them on their way.

Alma Fleming followed Harry and Hermione back to the common room.

As soon as they sat down, they relaxed for a little while.

Harry and Hermione were holding hands, and Alma knew that something must have been going on between them, and she chose to not say anything about this.

A few moments later, Eddie entered the common room, then he sat down, and pulled out some parchments and a quill, and he started writing.

"Don't know when he is going to finish his homework," Alma muttered.

Staring at Eddie, she happened to know that he was not a very model student, that he always leaves everything until later.

o-o

On the following day, however, Professor Warner had asked the students to brew a new Potion, and it wasn't easy at all. Harry and Hermione had both scraped an E for it at the end of the lesson, whereas most students had received an A.

"This potion may be one of the potions you would make in your exam," Professor Warner said at the end of the lesson.

Harry and Hermione didn't know what else could be coming up later, so they decided to reread their Potions book after dinner.

"Better not read all of them," Harry said. "Or else you will be exhausted."

"I know, just a few of them would do," Hermione said.

The rest of the week went well with Harry and Hermione, and as the final lesson on Friday ended, they felt slightly stressed.

Their workload was mounting higher and higher, but they were not surprised about it either. The other students, however, had somehow collapsed because of the workload.

Harry and Hermione had only finished half of their homework on Friday night, and they knew they would be quite busy on Saturday, as they also had the Apparition lesson as well.

o-o

On Saturday afternoon, Harry and Hermione waited in the hall until another Wizard who they didn't know arrived.

"My name is Herman Knight," he said. "I will be the one teaching you both to Apparate distant locations."

"Come to the Potions classroom with me, you two," Professor Baker said to Harry and Hermione.

Harry and Hermione followed Professor Baker, and Herman followed right behind them.

"Let's just set the Transfiguration classroom as your destination this time," Professor Baker said as they arrived at the Potions classroom. "Professor Wagner is there to catch up with you both."

Herman got to his feet.

"From what Clay had told me, you both had learnt how to Apparate short distances, is that right?" he asked.

Harry and Hermione nodded.

"Right, so now, I want to tell you that Apparating long distances are just like Apparating short distances, you only had to concentrate, and I hope that you remember the three Ds for Apparition," Herman said. "I will set the Transfiguration classroom as your destination."

Harry and Hermione tried to Apparate to the Transfiguration classroom, but when they went out of the door to check, they found that it wasn't the Transfiguration classroom, it was the Divination classroom.

The Divination teacher stood at the table, seeing the two teens suddenly appear made him feel astounded.

"Did you two meant to Apparate here?" he asked.

"No, we were supposed to Apparate to the Transfiguration classroom," Harry said.

"Which means you may have Apparated to the wrong location," the Divination teacher said.

Harry and Hermione did not say anything else, they walked out of the Divination classroom, and they went back to the Potions classroom.

"We didn't Apparate to the place where we expected," Harry said.

"Where did you two end up in?" Herman asked.

"The Divination classroom," Harry answered.

"Ending up in a place where you do not expect by Apparition is also considered a failure, it could occur because you lost concentration of your destination," Herman said. "The consequences will be worse if you intend to Apparate to places you had never been."

After about an hour of practise, Harry and Hermione could both Apparate to the Transfiguration classroom without a hitch.

End of chapter


	29. Chapter 29

Chapter 29

**The Strict Wizarding Law**

Disclaimer: Everything in Harry Potter universe belongs to J.K. Rowling. I got nothing out of this except for enjoyment.

On the following day, Harry was excited that he could Apparate flawlessly.

"You still have to wait until you are seventeen to take the test, though," Hermione said. "I might as well be taking it before you do, I am already of age."

"No worries," Harry said. "I will be seventeen at the end of July, and then I will take it."

"We will be on holiday during that time," Hermione said.

"I know that," Harry said.

The following week was a rather busy week for the sixth-year students, as the teachers began to learn new things, and they had given the students more homework than before. Even Harry and Hermione had to spend almost all their evenings doing them or else they may not be able to finish them on time.

Joshua was a little bit frustrated with the unusual load of homework that had been given to him.

After he finished his homework, he immediately went back to his dormitory for a nap, or else he had gone to bed early at night.

On Wednesday evening, as soon as Harry and Hermione returned to the common room from the library, they saw Joshua entering the boys' dormitory.

Harry checked his watch, it was only a quarter past eight.

He couldn't bear to think of it himself, he was also a bit tired, and he went to his dormitory as well. This year was indeed more exhausting than his fifth year.

Herbert had seen Harry in this state, and he realised that he must not squander his time lest he falls behind when he gets into his fifth year.

Alma didn't seem to care much about this at all, though this is her sixth year in Sainite. She was rather absent-minded about homework that she had to squash it in during the weekends. Her friends had persuaded her to study regularly so that she would not fall behind, but she mostly took their urges as if it was water off the duck's back.

"You may not be able to pass your UWS if you do not study hard," Janet said on Friday evening.

Alma didn't say anything, and she didn't start on her homework either.

Janet shook her head, and she continued to do her homework.

Harry and Hermione were practising new spells that they had learnt from the teachers, and they didn't find it easy to master.

"These spells were not like the spells that we had learnt during our fourth year," Harry said.

"You are right, these spells are useful, even though they are not easy," Hermione said.

It was half-past nine when Harry said goodnight to Hermione and walked back to his dormitory.

o-o

Breakfast on the following morning was a bit uneventful, and Harry and Hermione noticed that several sixth-years were shaking. After breakfast, Harry and Hermione went to the common room, only noticing some sixth years went back to their dormitory. Harry assumed that they must have been sleepy.

They knew that they needed rest as well, so they went to the common room and sat down.

"How much homework do you have to do now, Harry," she asked, sighing breathlessly.

"Only a few," Harry replied.

"I don't have that much left to do," Hermione said, relaxing her arms. "I'll rest a bit before I do it."

Harry found that he couldn't say anything that would prevent her from doing this, after all, she had done too much work during the previous day.

At ten o'clock, they started to do the rest of their homework, and they had managed to finish it at about half-past eleven, then Harry accidentally took a glance outside the common room, seeing students came out of the dormitory, he walked away from the common room.

"They still think that they didn't have enough rest, seemingly," he said.

Hermione couldn't find anything else to say on this subject.

They spent most of the afternoons outside the school grounds, talking to others, and suddenly, Eddie gasped.

"I just forgot there is still more homework I need to do," he said.

"Well, you better go and do it," Harry said.

He saw Eddie walking back to the hall, and he turned back as soon as Eddie had disappeared from his view.

"I didn't even see Eddie in the common room yesterday evening," he said.

"We were both in the library," Ricky said. "We were so exhausted after we got back to our dormitory."

"The amount of homework that had been given to us right now is even more than the amount of homework we received in Easter during our third year at Hogwarts," Hermione said.

Ricky glanced at her for a moment.

"Am I right saying that Hogwarts usually have exam a few months after Easter?" he asked.

"Precisely," Hermione said. "It usually happens in June."

Several students who were in their younger years than Harry and Hermione were listening to their conversation, and some of them turned and muttered with one another.

"Are your parents magical, Hermione?" Ricky asked.

"No, both of them are Muggles," Hermione replied.

Suddenly there were loud noises, and Harry and Hermione glanced around and saw that students were chasing each other, and they yelled and screamed.

Harry and Hermione quickly walked back to the library, since they want some quietness.

At half-past five, they went back to the hall for dinner.

As soon as they filled their plates with food, and sat down on a table to eat, owls flooded inside the hall, dropping the latest Wizarding newspaper in front of Harry.

Harry seized the newspaper and began to read.

**Dark Wizards Caught by Aurors**

_The Dark wizards who had attacked a Wizarding home several weeks ago had been caught by Aurors from the Ministry of Magic at four o'clock in the afternoon yesterday._

"_The Dark wizard that was previously caught had been given a sentence of fifteen years in prison," the Minister said. "The rest of the Dark wizards were caught, and they were awaiting trials at the moment."_

"_It was a sickening thought of having the Wizarding home attacked by Dark wizards," the Minister said. "We would like all the Wizarding schools to take precautions to help prevent this from happening in the future as much as possible, such as educating the students to not do bad things."_

"_This incident does not happen very often in our country, and we strive to ensure that this incident stays minimal, and we ask each one of us to co-operate with one another, to try and keep the number of Dark wizards as low as possible," the Minister said._

"It's a good thing that the Ministry of Magic is doing something about any problems that is happening in the Wizarding World," Harry said.

"And they will ensure that no one in the Ministry is Pureblood bigots," Hermione said.

"It is good to see that the Wizarding politics in this country are well organised and thoughtful," Hermione said.

Harry and Hermione went back to the common room after they had eaten.

"Maybe there are no books about Dark magic are allowed to be stored inside the library of Sainite," Hermione said.

"I wondered if there are any Dark magic shops in this country," Harry said.

Hermione shook her head.

"I'll ask someone else about this," Harry said.

Before Hermione could say anything else, Joshua entered the common room.

"Hi Joshua, can I ask you something?" Harry asked.

"Yes," Joshua said.

"Are there any Dark magic shops in this country?" Harry asked.

"There were Dark magic shops in this country more than one decade ago," Joshua answered. "Nevertheless, the Wizarding government had discovered those shops a few years ago, and they ordered them to be shut down, as the shop were selling Dark magical objects and books which could harm people. The people who worked in those Dark magic shops had attempted to put up with a fight against this decision, but they were captured by the Aurors. They were put on trial, and sentenced to thirty years in prison."

Harry felt shaken, his eyes wide, and he opened his mouth but couldn't say anything. He wondered why didn't the Wizarding government in Britain shut down the Dark magical shops in Knockturn Alley because of the Dark magical books and objects inside.

Seeing Harry's expression Joshua continued. "These shops had now been changed to reputable shops for selling magical objects, and miscellaneous genuine Wizarding bookshops."

"This is a very good decision," Harry said.

"I think you will also find, that there are no Dark magic books in the library of this school," Joshua said.

"Good," Harry said. "This way, Dark wizards in this country will no longer have any access to Dark magical books or objects, and no students will ever have a single chance to learn the Dark Arts themselves."

Then he proceeded and told Joshua about his thought, about the fact that the Dark magic shops in Knockturn Alley had not been shut down by the government even though Dark magical objects were sold.

"Don't know what they are thinking," Joshua said. "In Canada, even selling Dark magical books and objects are illegal, and such actions are punishable by the law. Although the Canadian government can't do anything about the Dark magic shops or locations in other countries because they do not govern other countries."

"This would stop the Dark wizards from using Dark magical objects at first chance in Canada," Harry said.

"Indeed," Joshua agreed. "This limits the actions that Dark wizards could do to innocent people."

Harry hugged Hermione, who didn't back away, and she wrapped her arms around him.

A moment later they broke apart.

o-o

On Sunday morning, Harry and Hermione were both feeling quite good about what they had heard from Joshua.

However, the weather was not too pleasant, it was rainy, and the rain became gradually heavier.

Harry and Hermione had pretty much nothing that they could do, and they couldn't even go to the library.

The common rooms were a little bit crowded than before, and some students were wandering around the corridors and hallways.

The students chatted with one another for a while in soft voices, and often some students laughed. Harry didn't know if someone was telling a joke or anything, but he did not think that there would be any need to find out.

Harry knew that the exam time in Hogwarts was not far away, it was only less than one month time before it would happen.

For the following two weeks, all the sixth years were really busy, and after that, it would almost be June.

Harry and Hermione knew their exams were still ages away, but they didn't want to slack off. They used their time wisely, made sure that they had done their homework, and practised all the spells that the teachers had asked them to practise.

They were constantly being complimented in classes, especially Defense Against the Dark Arts and Charms class. Professor Bailey was sure that they would pass their UWS in Defense Against the Dark Arts with high grades, and Professor Collins stated that he would be surprised if they didn't pass their UWS in Charms.

Some sixth-year students had decided to study harder, just so that they could pass their exams as well, although their grades were not too bad, they decided to get higher grades, even if it meant only in some of their subjects.

A few sixth-year students had decided to ask Harry and Hermione for advice, but after some careful thinking, they squashed the idea, since they knew it would not be necessary to do this. Not all of the sixth years thought that studying one step ahead was a good idea, but they had to make sure that they don't fall behind the others.

Joshua was slightly regretful that he did not get the necessary pass grade to enter UWS in Herbology, and he knew that he had to make sure that he gets better grades on each of the subjects that he had chosen right now. Hopefully, he would at least be able to secure a position in a Wizarding school once he graduates from Sainite.

Since there was still plenty of time for him to study, he decided to not waste them.

Some students didn't seem to care too much about grades, but they knew they still had to get the required grades to secure a job in the Wizarding World.

"I might as well be booking an Apparition test in June," Hermione said.

"You could," Harry said.

"At the end of June, I should say," Hermione said. "I may need to do more practice on that."

Harry said nothing, he merely nodded.

He knew that it was only two months away before he becomes eligible to take the Apparition test, he decided to ask the Ministry to see whether he can do more practice of it.

Then he wrote a letter to the Ministry of Magic, asking for more practise sessions on Apparition.

After he had sent the letter out, Joshua arrived.

"What did you just do?" he asked.

"I just sent out another letter to the Ministry, asking for more practise sessions on Apparition," Harry replied.

"I might have to do more practice sessions on Apparition," Joshua said. "I don't want to fail Apparition."

End of chapter


	30. Chapter 30

Chapter 30

**Practise Session in the Ministry**

Disclaimer: Everything in Harry Potter universe belongs to J.K. Rowling. I got nothing out of this except for enjoyment.

Harry received his reply on the following afternoon at five o'clock.

_Dear Mr Potter_

_You may have Apparition practise session for the next few weeks, and you can choose to have Apparition practise test if you wish. There's not much difference between practice test and practise session, the only difference between practice test and practise session is that during the practice test, no instructions will be given to you, except for the fact that you have to Apparate to a location specified by the person who tests you, within the time limit that had been given._

_I shall point out that if you take your practise test, it must not be taken in school, you can take it within the boundaries of the Ministry of Magic buildings, or else you can choose a few magical locations to do the test in._

_Please reply and tell us whether you want more practice session or practise test as soon as possible._

_Regards_

_Brandon Blair_

_Head of Department of Magical Law Enforcement_

Harry glanced at his letter, and he decided to practise how to Apparate to unknown locations before he takes the practise test, in case if something goes wrong.

After he showed the letter to Hermione, Hermione smiled.

"Apparating to unknown locations? Hmm... Okay," she said. "Maybe there's not much difference between apparating to unknown locations or apparating to known locations."

"I am going to take practise session anyway," Harry said. "I have never been to the Ministry of Magic in Canada, so the locations within that place would be pretty new to me. I am eager to give this a try."

Hermione nodded.

She placed her arms around him for a little while.

He didn't resist her, and he felt quite good about it. He smiled at her, and she smiled back.

"We hardly ever done this even though we are engaged," he said. "We don't want to act as if we are not together yet, do we?"

"You are right, Harry," Hermione agreed.

o-o

Harry and Hermione wrote letters to the Ministry of Magic, asking for more opportunity to practise Apparition.

Meanwhile, the others had, in retrospect, decided to not bother with Apparition again until later.

As June arrived, a lot of students below their fifth year had decided to rest for a while.

The teachers were pushing the fifth year students hard on their homework, and the homework they had given to the students were too much that they need to spend at least a few hours in the weekend to finish it.

Harry frequently saw Joyce studying in either the common room or the library during the evenings, and he could not find any reason to blame her at all. He and Hermione were just as busy as she was.

Harry and Hermione had kissed each other more occasionally than before, while no one was around them, and they were holding hands whenever they were together. No one else had made any snide comments about this, not even the professors could.

They were shocked, however, that they had heard Herbert was in trouble because of a little fight he had with Emmitt about a piece of Transfiguration homework, and Emmitt ended up on lagging slightly behind because he didn't complete it on time.

The days passed on, and soon it was Friday again, Herbert was already frustrated with the amount of homework that had been given to him, but Emmitt still acted like a slacker. The Transfiguration Professor had warned Emmitt that if he does not complete the homework and hand it in on Monday, he would be on detention, and he still needs to do the additional homework that had been given to the first years.

Meanwhile. Joyce was falling behind slightly with her homework, so she spent the weekend catching up on it, even though she got overall Exceeds Expectations in most of her subjects.

The only subjects that she wasn't too keen to study were History of Magic and Herbology, and in those subjects, she got overall Acceptable grades.

Additionally, Roy was still on her mind, and she realised why Hermione had declined her request in helping Roy out during her previous year in Sainite. Right now, she was also facing the situation where she gets tons of homework that she had to do, and that does not exclude practical homework.

She frequently saw Roy was beyond help with his studies, that he couldn't cope with the school work himself, even though he had repeated his third year.

She also couldn't bear the fact that some third-year students had started to laugh at Roy because of his lack of progress, and some of them had shunned him.

She frequently asked some of the third-year students about Roy, and some of them didn't seem to be too interested with Roy at all.

To make matters worse, Roy had started to get along with a bunch of pranksters who were in his year, and she could not see how this would help him improve his grades.

She wondered what she should do to help Roy step up to fourth year next year.

After she had completed her homework, she started to get a bit drowsy, and she slowly made her way back to the girls' dormitory to get some sleep.

While Joyce was sleeping, Harry and Hermione were both working, and after they had finished, they stood up and placed their homework inside their bags, while Joshua was still busy with finishing his homework.

Just then, two owls arrived, carrying a letter each.

Harry and Hermione detached the letters from the owls, and the owls left.

Harry opened the letter and started to read.

_Dear Mr Potter_

_We had received your letter about continuing to practise Apparition._

_We see that you had mentioned about learning how to Apparate to places you had never been to before, and I can't say no to practising it in the first place._

_Your practice session on the third Saturday and Sunday of this month, both sessions will happen in the morning, for one hour, from ten to eleven._

_To get to the Ministry, hold the paper clip inside the envelope, and say 'Apparition'._

_Regards_

_Brendon Blair_

_Head of Department of Magical Law Enforcement_

"Guess I will take my Apparition test in July," Hermione said as she finished reading her letter.

Harry didn't think that he needs to ask why, as they haven't been practising how to Apparate to unknown places yet.

"We will do the practice test a bit later," Hermione went on.

They made their way to the school grounds, and they saw Ricky and Eddie.

"How are you two doing?" Ricky asked.

"We are doing fine, but it had been a busy time for us," Harry said.

"The sixth year is such a hard year for us," Ricky said.

"Have you finished your homework yet?" Harry asked.

"We will leave it until later," Ricky said.

Hermione didn't know what to say about Ricky's comment, and she couldn't believe that Ricky would want to leave his homework until later as he was already in his sixth year.

"Don't you want to pass your UWS, Ricky?" she asked.

Ricky didn't know how to answer this question. Eddie, however, didn't seem to care too much.

Hermione looked at them, and she wondered how Ricky had passed his OWLs.

"Are there anything else that you are busy with that would be more important than homework, Ricky?" she asked.

Harry could see her point, and this made him remember Fred and George, who wanted to open a joke shop. He wondered whether they had succeeded in doing this or not.

Ricky glanced at Hermione and giggled.

"You don't need to remind Ricky about his study, Hermione," Eddie said. "Ricky is a little bit lazy, but he will catch up when the time is crucial. He had managed to get Exceeds Expectations in all of his OWLs."

o-o

On the following Monday, all the classes went well, until Defense Against the Dark Arts class.

Professor Bailey had asked everyone to practice duelling each other again with the latest spell they had learnt.

As soon as everyone divided into pairs, they started to practise.

The first few spells went well, however, as soon as Debra fired a cutting spell at Eddie, Eddie failed to block it, and he fell.

Professor Bailey walked over to them, checking on Eddie, then he waved his wand, and Eddie woke up.

"It seems that you didn't manage to block that spell, Eddie," he said.

"Was this a stunning spell?" Ricky asked.

"No, although the effect of the spell looks the same as a stunning spell, it isn't a stunning spell, but a sleeping spell," Professor Bailey said.

The other students kept on firing spells at each other, and one of them ended up on having their wand blasted out of their hand.

After a while, most of the students had proven to successfully use the spells that they had been taught.

As the class ended, Harry and Hermione went off to lunch.

A few students looked so decomposed, and they were sighing.

Harry and Hermione didn't pay much attention to them as they ate, after they had finished, they made their way to their next class, which is Ancient Runes.

o-o

After the final class, Harry and Hermione went back to the common room, and they began to do their homework again.

"We have to use a bit more time now, as we want to give time for our Saturday's practice session," Harry said.

"I know," Hermione said.

They decided to do a little bit more than they intended to, so they could save a bit of time on Saturday.

A few moments later, several first-year students entered, and then Jose and Andy marched up and took their seats.

They glanced at Harry and Hermione, who was still writing.

"We will be very busy in our sixth year, I bet," Andy said. "Just look at these two."

Jose nodded.

"We don't want to distract them," he said.

"Since we don't have any homework, let's go for now," Andy said.

Jose nodded, and they walked out of the common room.

Harry and Hermione had only finished some of their homework when the dinner time arrived, and as they walked down to the hall, a few students were laughing.

They didn't pay any attention to it, and then they began to fill their plates with food, and went onto a table, and began to eat.

After they had eaten, they went back to the common room, rested for a little while, and continued with their homework.

At the same time, Herbert and Emmitt entered the common room, Herbert thought it would be better to not distract Harry and Hermione, whereas Emmitt approached them, and Herbert had to drag him back.

Emmitt started to argue with Herbert, but Herbert placed a finger over his mouth, and Emmitt fell silent.

After Harry and Hermione had finished their homework, they checked their watch.

"It is already nine o'clock, let's get to bed," Harry said, glancing around the common room, and saw that they were the only ones left.

Hermione nodded.

They placed their homework back into their bags, and then they hugged each other, and then they went back to their dormitories.

As soon as Harry entered the boys' dormitory, he found out that most students had already slept in.

He quietly went back to his bed, took off his clothes, and climbed onto it. Then he fell asleep.

o-o

On the next few days, the teachers did not give much homework to the sixth year students, and this was an advantage to Harry and Hermione.

"Don't be too overexcited, Harry, it may take a few weeks to practise properly Apparating to unknown places," Hermione said.

Harry nodded.

"Do you think we should inform the Headmaster that we are going to practise Apparition in the Ministry?" he asked.

"There won't be any need for us to do this," Hermione said. "The Ministry may have already informed the Sainite staff about this."

Harry couldn't disagree with her statement.

Hermione's statement came true a few hours after the final class on Thursday, Professor Bailey had summoned her and Harry into his office.

"I just received a letter from the Ministry of Magic saying that you two would be taking more Apparition practice sessions in the Ministry on Saturday and Sunday," he said.

"Yes," Harry said.

"I just want to tell you two that I already know about this," Professor Bailey said.

After Harry and Hermione walked out of Professor Bailey's office and making their way back to the common room, they met Joshua and Alma, who were only several steps away from them, arguing uncontrollably.

"It's just a prank," Alma said.

"This prank had made me vomit blood!" Joshua snapped.

Harry and Hermione glanced at the floor, and sure enough, there was red liquid on the ground.

"Don't you have any idea how many pranks you did within this month?" Joshua asked. "I have seen enough of it. I don't think even Amanda would like it."

Alma glanced around, and she was not impressed to see Harry and Hermione standing a few steps away from them. Her face became terrified.

Harry and Hermione both shook their heads, they stood there, and they watched Alma walking away when Joshua followed behind her.

Just then, Amanda arrived.

"Have you two seen Joshua?" she asked.

"Yes, they walked away from us just now," Harry replied, and he pointed the direction where they had gone.

Amanda walked in the direction where Harry was pointing to, and she was soon out of sight.

Harry and Hermione made their way back to the common room, and then they saw Amanda and Alma were fighting.

"How dare you do this to Joshua?" she said furiously.

"It was just a prank," Alma said.

"You call making someone vomit blood a prank?" asked Amanda. "You effing bitch of a prankster!"

Then she stormed away from Alma, found Joshua, who had stopped vomiting blood, then she said softly. "Don't get along with Alma, she is just a bitch of a prankster who does not care about your health."

"I don't trust Alma that much," Joshua said. "From what I had seen, she did pranks to some other students who were below their fifth year, like trapping someone inside a cage by letting them stepping on a rope, or else creating invisible paints that only become visible when stepped on, which makes the students' shoes full of paints that they had to go to the office for the teachers to sort them out."

"Does the teachers know anything about this?" Amanda asked.

"They were aware of it, although I had no idea how Alma was punished for this," Joshua answered.

o-o

On Saturday, Harry and Hermione took the portkey and arrived at the Ministry of Magic Apparition practising room ten minutes before ten o'clock.

"Hi Mr Potter, hi Miss Granger," Herman said, "sit down for a moment."

Harry and Hermione sat down, took out the letters they had received from the Director, and handed them to Herman. They watched Herman as he examined the letters.

"Very well," Herman said. "You two want to practise how to Apparate to unknown places, now is the time to do so. I should point out, however, that it is technically not possible to Apparate to a place where you have never been before. You need to have a photo of the destination that you want to Apparate to; before you could achieve that."

He paused for a moment, then he asked them to roam around Level 4, Courtroom 5 for a bit, then they went back to the Apparition Test Centre, then he asked Harry and Hermione to Apparate to Level 4, Courtroom 5.

Harry and Hermione concentrated as hard as they could, soon enough, they turned on the spot, then they found themselves in Level 4, Courtroom 5.

A man was sitting on a chair, and he heard the sound of the Apparition, so he looked up, and he smiled.

A few moments later, Herman appeared.

"Great start, I didn't see either of you getting splinched," he said. "Now Apparate back to where we were before, please."

Harry and Hermione did what they were told, and a few seconds after they went back to the Apparition practising room without a hitch.

After one hour of practising, Herman bid them goodbye, stating that he would be seeing them again on the following day.

The following day's Apparation practise was just as successful as the previous one, and Harry and Hermione felt that it wasn't hard to Apparate to unknown places at all, as long as they know how to do it properly, and concentrating properly as well.

"You can both take your Apparition test early next month," Herman said.

"I won't be seventeen until the thirty first of July," Harry said.

Herman laughed.

"I think you were under the impression that you must be seventeen to pass Apparition test," he said. "In this country, circumstances are different, you can still get an Apparition license thirty days before you turn seventeen. Conditions will apply, however."

"What conditions?" asked Harry.

"There are two types of Apparition licenses in our country, one is Conditional Apparition License, the other one is Standard Apparition License, you can get your Conditional Apparition License thirty days before you turn seventeen," Herman answered. "Conditional Apparition License will have restrictions such as that you are not allowed to side-along Apparate anyone regardless of who they are, and you are not allowed to Apparate to unknown places on your own even if you had seen a photo of it, this enables you to practise Apparition on your own before you turn seventeen. Once you turn seventeen, you may take the test for a Standard Apparition License."

"I'll do some practise test before I consider whether to get a Conditional Apparition License or wait until I turn seventeen to get a Standard Apparition License," Harry said.

"Meanwhile, I will show you the Ministry for a bit, just so that you will be familiar with some places in the Ministry of Magic," Herman said.

After they roamed around the Ministry and familiarised themselves with the different rooms in it, Herman dismissed Harry and Hermione, telling them he will send them letters about the day and time they will be taking their practice test.

End of Chapter


	31. Chapter 31

Chapter 31

**Apparition Test**

Disclaimer: Everything in Harry Potter universe belongs to J.K. Rowling. I got nothing out of this except for enjoyment.

Harry was delighted about the weekend of practising Apparating to unknown locations, and he couldn't stop thinking about it as he arrived back at Sainite.

Several other students were curious where Harry and Hermione had been after they got back to school, and some of them began to ask them.

"I'd rather wait until later to take more practice sessions on Apparition," Joshua said. "I am not in such a hurry to learn this."

"Me neither," Eddie said.

The following week was the final week of June, and he knew that the next school holiday was only one month away.

Ricky was slightly worried, although he did finish his homework, he wasn't sure what he would be doing after he finished studying in this school. Given his current grades, he could at least become a Healer if he had managed to get at least Exceeds Expectations in all of his subjects.

When he confided this matter to Joshua, Joshua's response was that he should at least keep up with his work.

"Thought I might have to take training courses here after I graduate," Ricky said to Joshua on Tuesday evening in the common room.

"I didn't see anyone who had been graduated from this school stays here," said Joshua.

"Or maybe I will do it in the Ministry of Magic," Ricky said.

The Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson was starting to become more difficult than before, Professor Bailey had started to teach the sixth year students a few new spells, which would be coming up on their exams. One of them was known as the Ice Bullet Jinx.

Neither Harry nor Hermione had found this spell easy, they were firing snowballs instead of ice bullets at their partners while they were having their practical lesson. Some of the other students, however, had fired ice cubes instead of ice bullets. Some of the students had fired cold water instead of ice.

Professor Bailey laughed at the students who fired the ice cubes and water on their partners, and this caused them to become embarrassed.

Harry and Hermione were still giggling after the lesson, and no students had made bad comments about them.

"Might have to go over our books again," Harry said.

"Even right after we read all this, we still couldn't do it properly," Hermione said.

After they arrived at the Transfiguration class, Professor Wagner announced that they will be learning how to transfigure oneself to acquire extra powers on the following week.

Harry and Hermione, who had been doing quite decent in Human Transfiguration, started to become more nervous than before.

After the class, they went to lunch.

Joshua was completely lost at the thought of transfiguring someone to acquire extra powers. In truth, his performance on Human Transfiguration was only up to an acceptable standard.

The other sixth year students were shaking their heads during lunchtime, as they were somehow a bit behind in Transfiguration.

o-o

On the following morning's Charms lesson, Professor Collins had begun to teach the students a new Charm which made a lot of students nervous, even Harry and Hermione did not find this spell easy.

"This spell will be coming up in your exams," he told the students.

Harry and Hermione knew that they would have to try extra hard to get the spell done properly.

After Charms, they went to their History of Magic class.

Professor Holland started the class by collecting all the students' essays that he had given them for Homework a few days ago, and then he started the class. Then he spent the rest of the class to continue to lecture the students about the Wizards of the twenty-first century.

"I feel quite good right now," Harry said as the class ended.

As they walked to the common room, they met Herbert and Emmitt. Herbert's face was despondent.

"What's the matter?" Harry asked.

"I just found one of my friends lying on the ground inside a bathroom," Herbert said. "He is currently in the sickbay, and Sir Howell, the matron, says that he had accidentally swallowed a Love Potion by mistake."

"Who is he?" asked Harry.

"Rodney Fowler," Herbert replied. "He's in my year."

"We will go and see him after the final period," Harry said.

"Isn't there an antidote for that Love Potion he had swallowed?" Hermione asked.

"There's only one antidote, and once he takes it, it will take one week for him to recover," Herbert said.

"Maybe there should be a petition about banning Love Potions," Hermione said.

"I'll go and speak to the Potions professor about this," Herbert said, and then he walked away.

As soon as Harry and Hermione made their way to their next lesson, which was Herbology, Professor Whitlock started to teach the students how to look after a new magical plant called Verendrio.

"Verendrio hates dark places, so you need to store it in a place with light," Professor Whitlock said. "If this plant has been stored in a dark place for more than one hour, it will get sick."

Harry and Hermione remembered that they were using Verendrio to make a potion in their potions class.

They continued to listen to Professor Whitlock's lecture on how to look after the plant, and Professor Whitlock dismissed everyone as the bell rang.

As soon as Harry and Hermione made their way to the Potions class, Professor Warner told them that they will be making a new potion today, as more students entered the room and sat down.

"Right everyone, please turn your potions book to page one hundred and twenty," she said. "The ingredients are in the cupboard."

The students got to their feet as they scanned the book, and then they went to the cupboard to find all the ingredients they needed to make the potion.

Harry and Hermione made their potions in silence, and they didn't even whisper to each other.

Professor Warner walked around the classroom, and she shook her head as she saw a few students doing their potions wrong, and then she walked off.

After the lesson, Harry and Hermione, as well as some other sixth years handed their potions in, and they walked out of the class and went to lunch.

Harry heard a few students complaining about the Potions class, but couldn't help it.

"Don't even know if I can do this potion properly."

"Me neither, if this potion comes up in our exams, I would definitely fail."

Harry didn't know how the other students were doing, due to the fact that he was concentrating too much on his potion and did not pay attention to how the others did in their potions. He assumed that the students who had complained must be having trouble with making the potion.

He pushed the thought aside and continued eating.

After lunch, he and Hermione set off to the Transfiguration classroom.

o-o

During the evening, Harry and Hermione received a letter from the Ministry, which informed them that they would be having an apparition practise test on Saturday afternoon at three o'clock.

"Are you nervous, Harry?" Hermione asked.

"Not quite," Harry said. "This is just a practise test anyway, not a pass or fail test."

Then Harry and Hermione began to do their homework.

While they were doing their homework, a fight broke out in the nearby common room.

"Don't tell me what to do!"

"Come on, this should be okay."

Harry and Hermione ignored the noise voice from the other common room, and then they heard footsteps running out of the common room, then they heard someone's head hitting the wall.

They didn't bother going out to see what was really going on, and a moment later they heard students shouting.

A few moments later, they heard a firm voice: "Oi, what on earth is going on over here?"

They recognised that it must have been a teacher's voice, and then they heard the students explaining what had happened.

"What the ruddy hell do you think you guys are doing? If I hear such a problem like this happening again you guys will be on detention!"

Then everything fell silent again.

Harry and Hermione continued to do their homework, and once they finished, they discovered that it was already half-past nine.

"Let's go to bed," Harry said, and they placed their homework back into their bags, then they hugged each other before they went back to their dormitory.

o-o

Friday passed without much of an incident, and as soon as Saturday arrived, Harry and Hermione had finished their homework, and they were getting ready for their practise test in the afternoon.

"I suggest that you don't do the test in such a hurry, Harry," Hermione said. "This can wait."

Harry had wanted to pass his test early, and by doing so he could at least apparate to known places, and Hermione could side-along him until he gets his Standard Apparition License.

At three o'clock in the afternoon, Harry and Hermione arrived at the apparition testing centre, and Clay was standing there.

They took out their letter and showed it to him.

"Right Mr Potter, Miss Granger, come here for a moment," he said after he handed the letter back to them. "And stand still, your back to me, please."

Harry and Hermione did what they were told, and then Clay said:

"Mr Potter, I would like you to apparate to courtroom two in ten seconds, starts now."

Harry had never been in courtroom two before, but he concentrated, and after five seconds, he vanished.

Clay was amazed that none of Harry's body parts was left behind, then he apparated into the courtroom to retrieve Harry.

After he side-alonged Harry back to the apparating testing centre, he asked Hermione to apparate to the same location as Harry.

Hermione hesitated, but after less than ten seconds, she disapparated without a hitch.

Then Clay disapparated, and ten seconds later he apparated back with Hermione.

"How was it?" Harry asked.

"I think I did it," Hermione responded.

"You both did well," Clay said.

There was a moment of silence.

"You both will be able to take the apparition test in July," he said. "Mr Potter, while you are holding a Conditional Apparition License, you can still learn to apparate to unknown places under the supervision of an instructor, provided that you have a photo of that location."

Harry nodded.

"Any questions?" asked Clay.

Harry and Hermione both shook their heads.

"Do you want to book your apparition test now?" Clay asked.

"Yes, next Saturday," Harry said, and Hermione nodded.

Clay took out two pieces of parchments and began writing on it with his quill, then he handed the parchment to Harry and Hermione, then he clipped a paper clip on each of the parchment.

As soon as Harry and Hermione got back to school, they glanced at the paper, which says.

**Your Apparition Test will be on the first Saturday in July, at ten o'clock in the morning, take the paper clip and say 'Apparition Test' to get to the Apparition Testing Centre.**

o-o

As July arrived, Harry and Hermione knew that they were only three weeks away until their next school holiday.

On Wednesday night, as Harry had slept, he met his parents again.

"You both didn't come to see me for ages now," Harry said.

"You are right, but now we feel it is necessary to tell you this," Lily said. "Albus Dumbledore is dead."

"How did he die?" asked Harry curiously.

"He put on a ring that was once belonged to Voldemort's mother," Lily said. "The ring carries a curse, and his hands were blackened and burned. Severus Snape had managed to keep him alive for one year, and he planned to let Snape kill him."

"So Snape killed him on his orders?" Harry asked.

"Yes," Lily said.

"Anything else you want to tell me?" Harry asked.

"Dumbledore had given your clone a task, but we are not going to give you the details," James said.

"Does it have something to do with Voldemort?" Harry asked.

"Yes," James said. "I am not going to go any further on this, because there would be no need to tell you about those things."

Harry considered for a while, and he wondered if Hogwarts would close.

"Is Hogwarts going to close?" he asked, thinking of what would happen to the Wizards and Witches who had not finished their magical education in Britain yet if Hogwarts had been closed. He didn't want any of them to get into this country and bump into him and Hermione.

"We are not sure yet," James said.

o-o

Sirius was not too pleased when James and Lily told him about Dumbledore's death, although he didn't like Dumbledore, he knew what would happen if Dumbledore had died. Voldemort would take this chance and no one would be capable of stopping him.

He frequently wondered how many people would be leaving the Wizarding Britain, and he was a bit more worried about who goes where.

He knew that sooner or later, the Wizarding Britain would no longer be a safe place for Wizards to live, and it could also impose danger to Muggles.

o-o

On Saturday morning, at ten minutes to ten o'clock, Harry and Hermione took the portkey and arrived at the Apparition Test Centre.

Herman stood there, and he greeted them as they had arrived.

"I'll test you two," he said. "Mr Potter, please get out of here and wait at the door of this room, I want to test you both individually."

Harry walked out of the room and stood by the door.

Herman went outside the room five minutes later, then he called Harry in.

"Right Mr Potter, let's start the test," he said. "I would like you to apparate to the apparition practise room in ten seconds, starts now."

Harry concentrated on his destination, and he turned on the spot after he had fixed his mind upon his determination, within seconds, he vanished, leaving nothing behind.

A moment later, Herman appeared.

"Now I would like you to apparate to courtroom 5," he said.

Harry concentrated again on his destination, and a few seconds later, he vanished again.

As soon as Herman arrived, he was impressed.

"You passed," he said.

They walked back to the Apparition Testing Centre, and Herman handed Harry his Conditional Apparition License.

End of Chapter


	32. Chapter 32

Chapter 32

**Voting of Banning Love Potions**

Disclaimer: Everything in Harry Potter universe belongs to J.K. Rowling. I got nothing out of this except for enjoyment.

As soon as Harry and Hermione went back to Sainite, they were very happy, and Hermione smiled as Harry told her that he had passed.

"I passed as well," Hermione said.

After they entered the common room, they saw Herbert.

"Harry, Hermione, I just want to inform you two that a petition is going to be given to all of us, and we've got to vote whether Love Potions should be banned or not," Herbert said. "Professor Warner had informed me about this a while ago."

"Does the other students know?" Harry asked.

"Not all students know about this yet," Herbert said. "This news will be announced soon."

On Monday, the voting forms of banning Love Potions were handed out to each sixth-year student during the final class, and after the final class had ended, Harry and Hermione decided to examine it closely.

**Should Love Potions be banned?**

Please put a tick on one of the following choices, and state your reason for it on the lines given below.

Yes, Love Potions should be banned.

No, Love Potions shouldn't be banned.

Be sure to send this back by no later than the 25th of July.

Harry could see no reason to not ban Love Potions, from his understanding Love Potions does not benefit anyone. Not only it does not create true love, but it could also be dangerous on some occasions.

So he ticked Yes.

After that, he wrote down his comment on why he had chosen to ban Love Potions.

"What did you tick?" he asked Hermione.

"I ticked yes," Hermione replied. "I hope that the staff of Sainite vote the same."

"I don't think any of the staff members would be stupid enough to allow Love Potions," Harry agreed.

After they finished their homework, they went to dinner.

"I wondered how many Wizards had received the voting forms," Harry said.

"No Wizards would miss them," Hermione said. "I hope that Sirius will also tick yes."

On the following day, Harry and Hermione handed their voting forms back to Professor Baker after lunch.

The afternoon passed without any incident happened, but as soon as Harry and Hermione got back to the common room, a few students from the younger years winced.

Herbert and Emmitt had overheard their conversation, and they were not very happy since they knew that those students were talking about the voting forms that may end up on interrupting their plans.

Although Herbert hoped that most of the sixth year students had selected the option to ban Love Potions, he didn't want to ask any of them since he knew that this voting would most likely be anonymous, that even a sixth year student would not be allowed to know what option the others had voted for.

Harry could not help noticing that there were a few students didn't look well over the next few days. He suspected that they must have been up to something but failed their plan; or a recent event that had caused them to feel bad.

"Even if the Love Potions are going to be banned sometime later, don't you think some people will get away with using it?" Harry asked Hermione.

"Anything possible," Hermione answered.

"The Potions could be added to a drink," Harry said. "Anyone could get into trouble for drinking that."

"And I don't think any Wizards would waste time to check whether there are Love Potions inside a drink," Hermione said.

Nevertheless, Harry didn't have time to think too much about the votings, since his homework was on the top of his head again, and he had to keep doing it to get it finished.

As he had finished most of his homework on Friday evening at half-past eight, he went to bed early.

o-o

During the weekend, Harry knew that the school holiday would start again soon, and then he would be taking his apparition test after his birthday.

"Who do you want to invite to your birthday this time, Harry?" Hermione asked.

"I don't know yet," Harry said. "I'll ask a few of our friends."

"I'll help you to ask them this time," Hermione said. "Mind?"

"No," Harry said.

Hermione smiled at him and nodded.

On the following week, the teachers had given the sixth year students homework, but Harry and Hermione had managed to finish most of them before Friday.

On Friday, Joshua and Amanda approached Harry, and they told him they would come, Jose and Andy had also wanted to come as well.

Harry wrote down his address and handed it to them.

"Okay, we will be there," they said together.

o-o

After Harry and Hermione went home for the holiday, Dan and Emma, as well as Sirius, were al relieved to see them again.

"Just voted on the banning of Love Potions a few weeks ago," Sirius said. "I quite agree that Love Potions should be banned."

"Are you both still keeping up with your grades?" Dan asked.

Harry and Hermione nodded.

"I have invited a few friends to come to Harry's birthday," Hermione said, "including two first years this time."

"Right," Sirius said.

"I am going to take my apparition test after my birthday," Harry said.

Then he explained to Sirius about the Apparition licensing in Canada, and Sirius was a little bit confused about why the Ministry give licenses to Wizards under seventeen apparition license.

"The licensing system is different in Britain," he said. "But I am glad that you can at least be allowed to apparate by yourself now."

o-o

29 July 1996

Far, far away, in a hotel located somewhere in Singapore, Dudley Dursley woke up with a start.

He realised that it was already morning.

He and his parents had just moved to Singapore with a few members from the Order of the Phoenix not long ago, and they had planned to stay in the hotel for a few days, right after Harry had told him and his parents the danger that they were in.

He was surprised, however, that his parents were not in the bedroom, the beds that Vernon and Petunia had occupied were empty.

He quickly got dressed, went to the kitchen, hoping that he will see them.

As soon as he arrived in the kitchen, he found that it was empty.

"Mum, Dad!" he called out, but no one answered him.

"Mum, Dad!" he shouted this time, hoping that they would answer him now, but there was still no answer.

_Did they go away without me? _He asked himself.

From his memory, he knew that they were sleeping in the same room with him last night, and he didn't understand how they could have gone so quickly without notifying him.

A moment later, Dedalus and Hestia, the two who had accompanied Dudley and his parents to this hotel turned up.

"Are you all right, Dudley?" Dedalus asked.

Dudley shook his head.

"Where are your parents?" Hestia asked.

"I couldn't find them," Dudley said. "Are they in the room you stayed?"

Dedalus shook his head.

"I'll search your room," Hestia said.

She entered, then she began to search under the bed.

After several minutes, she walked back to Dudley.

"No sign of them," she said.

"Have you had your breakfast yet?" Dedalus asked.

Dudley shook his head.

"Come and have some breakfast with us, and we will sort you out," Dedalus said.

Dudley nodded, and he followed Dedalus and Hestia to their hotel room.

After Dudley had his breakfast, Dedalus reported Vernon and Petunia's disappearance to the hotel staff, and then the hotel staff told the hotel manager about it.

Soon enough, the policemen arrived, and they questioned Dudley, Dedalus and Hestia about what they think had happened to Vernon and Petunia, and they started to scan for possible footprints in the hotel room that Dudley had inhabited, as well as all the other rooms of the hotel.

"No suspicious footprints were found," the policemen said after half an hour of searching the inside and the outside of the hotel. "The only possibility, as far as we can speculate, would be that they had run away and left you behind, Dudley."

"They might have been killed somewhere," Hestia said.

"I knew that they were sleeping in the same hotel room as me last night," Dudley said.

The policemen then headed to the reception area and asked the receptionist if there was suspicious going on last evening, but the receptionist shook his head.

"Then maybe they woke up early and decided to go out and gotten killed by some gangsters, then the gangsters had cleared up," the policemen said. "We will investigate further, and we will watch out for suspects."

Dudley nodded.

o-o

On Harry's birthday, Harry was so excited, since there would be guests coming to his house again.

Hermione hugged him after breakfast, and she handed him her present. It was a book entitled: A guide on how to sustain your Relationship.

Neither he nor Hermione knew the voting result about the banning of Love Potions, and Harry assumed that he would get the result in no later than early August.

Dan and Emma both had appointments in the morning, and they promised they will return in the afternoon.

Sirius had promised to Harry that he will return early tonight.

Dan and Emma arrived back home at half-past twelve, and after they had their lunch, they decided to go out for a bit to enjoy the sunshine. As they watched the birds flying past them, Harry felt that this was a great time for him.

They returned to the house at half-past two, and then Harry started to read the book that Hermione had given him.

Dan excused himself to go out and do a bit of shopping, and he arrived back forty-five minutes later.

At half-past three, Sirius arrived back home, and he placed a box of Fudge on the dining table.

Dan and Emma placed some candies and other finger foods on the dining table, just so that the guests could help themselves if they feel they need to.

Half an hour later, there was a knock on the door, Dan went to open it.

It was Jose and Andy, and they placed their present on the dining table.

Harry opened it, discovering that it was a board game.

"Thank you," he said.

A moment later, Joshua and Amanda arrived, and they got Harry a box of what they called 'Wizarding Chocolates', which were in the shape of the objects in the Wizarding world, some of them looked like sneakoscopes, some of them looked like broomsticks, some of them looked like foe glasses.

Harry glanced the shapes on the box in owe, and he wondered who could be spending the time to make chocolate look like this.

"These chocolates are designed in all sorts of shapes of various magical objects," Joshua said.

The guests helped themselves to the finger foods that had been placed on the dining table by Dan and Emma, and it was very hard to tell

Dan and Emma, meanwhile, were busy cooking in the kitchen.

Sirius began to chat with all the guests that had arrived here, and he wondered how Muggleborns would attend Wizarding school in this country.

"We were visited by a governor of Ministry of Magic before we turned twelve, and he told us we have magical powers, then he gave us a letter each," Andy said. "They give us the list of magical schools for us to choose from, though he recommends Sainite."

"Did your parents feel reluctant about this?" Sirius asked.

"They asked me whether we want to attend Wizard school or not, and they told us that they would support us if we do as long as we keep up with our work," Andy said. "We told them that we do want to attend."

Sirius nodded.

"What are you going to do after you leave school, Harry?" asked Andy.

"I shall have to see about that after I received my UWS," Harry said. "I might have to discuss this with the teachers in Sainite sometime soon."

By six o'clock, the dinner was ready, and Dan brought in the cake, and the candles.

He attached the candle holder to the candle, placed the candle holder on the cake, then he lit it.

A moment later, everyone sang Happy Birthday, and then Harry blew the candle out, then Dan took the candles off the cake, and began to cut it and give it to everyone.

As everyone had received a piece of cake, they began to eat.

"What do you think the Love Potion voting result would be, Harry?" Sirius asked.

"Voting for banning Love Potions?" Harry asked. "I hope Love Potions will get banned."

"I certainly hope so," Sirius said, "Love Potions provides absolutely no benefits to anyone, just like the Imperius Curse."

Harry nodded.

"It would never be a good idea to force someone to fall in love with you," Hermione said.

After dinner, Joshua and Amanda made their way into the living room, whereas Andy and Jose had followed Harry and Hermione into Harry's room.

"This house does look good," Jose complimented, observing Harry's room.

"This house is a Muggle house," Harry said.

A moment later, they made their way into the living room and sat down.

Sirius took a glimpse at them as they sat down, then he turned back to Dan and Emma.

"I might consider teaching after I graduated," Joshua said.

"You are not alone in that," Amanda said.

"We are not going to get married until you graduate," Joshua said.

Amanda laughed.

"That would take two years," she said. "I can still wait."

At half-past eight, Jose and Andy were picked up by their parents, and another fifteen minutes later, Amanda and Joshua's parents arrived to pick them up.

After the guest had left, Harry and Hermione went to bed and slept.

o-o

On the following morning, Harry wrote a letter to the Ministry of Magic after breakfast, booking a time for the Standard Apparition Test.

"Are you nervous about the test?" Hermione asked.

"No," Harry replied.

While Harry was sleeping that evening, James and Lily appeared again.

"Harry, just one reminder, do not use the name Voldemort; since that name has been jinxed, whoever says it in Britain is trackable by the Death Eaters," James said. "Use Tom Riddle if you want to."

"That is just a filthy Muggle name to You Know Who," Harry said. "Yes, I'll use Tom Riddle instead. It seems that too few people knew that You Know Who's actual name was Tom Riddle."

"Right," James said.

On the following Monday in the afternoon, Harry received his letter, stating that he will have his Standard Apparition Test on the sixth of August at ten o'clock in the morning. The letter stated that it would be best for him to take the portkey provided by the Ministry rather than apparating to the Ministry himself.

So on the sixth of August, Harry arrived at the Ministry of Magic Apparition Test Centre using the portkey that the Ministry had provided.

Herman asked Harry if he could apparate to courtroom fourteen.

Harry was ready for that, and a few seconds later, he vanished.

Then Herman went to get him and asked him if he could apparate to the entrance of a place called Wizarding Health Care Centre, and he gave him a picture for it.

Harry focused very hard, and after five seconds, he vanished and found himself there.

A moment later, Herman arrived, and he side-alonged Harry back to the Apparition Test Centre.

"Well done, Mr Potter," he said. "You passed."

He asked Harry to hand over the Conditional Apparition License, and then he gave Harry the Standard Apparition License.

o-o

"How did you do, Harry?" Hermione asked.

"I passed," Harry said.

Hermione smiled and hugged him.

"Congratulations Harry," she said. "Sirius would be pleased to hear that you passed."

On the following evening, after Sirius arrived back home, he held out a copy of the latest Wizarding newspaper to Harry and Hermione.

Harry looked at it, it says.

**Ministry of Magic Makes Decision to Ban Love Potions From 10th of August**

_The Ministry of Magic had decided to ban Love Potions from the tenth of August, due to the many votes for the banning of Love Potions._

"_Love Potions are indeed useless," the Minister of Magic, Matthew Taylor said. "They neither provide love nor do any good to any Wizards."_

_Currently, the stocks of Love Potions are being taken down from the Potions shop, just as the Minister had ordered all the stocks of Love Potions to be taken down by no later than the tenth of August._

"Well this is good," Harry said.

Now all he needs to worry about would be the UWS exams that would be coming up at the end of the year.

End of Chapter


	33. Chapter 33

Chapter 33

**End of Sixth Year**

Disclaimer: Everything in Harry Potter universe belongs to J.K. Rowling. I got nothing out of this except for enjoyment.

Harry and Hermione returned to Sainite the day before the new term started, meeting Joshua and Amanda.

"I just saw the Wizarding newspaper not long ago," Joshua said to Harry. "Love Potions are now banned."

"It was a good thing to ban Love Potions," Harry said.

Sitting inside the common room, Harry and Hermione knew the exams were approaching, and they barely had time to speak to other people.

Joyce was busy, she studied very hard, and she hoped that she would pass her exams.

She frequently noticed that Roy was still struggling with his work, but at this time she couldn't help him with anything either.

She knew that asking Harry and Hermione for help would not be the right thing to do, as they would still refuse because they didn't have the time to do so.

During the following week, all the teachers mentioned to the sixth years that since their UWS exams are drawing nearer, the revision will start on the first day of October.

"Just hope that no more incidents would happen to any sixth-year students," Harry said.

Joshua nodded in agreement.

"We don't want anyone to end up on missing out revision time," he said.

Andy and Jose were both a little bit worried about their exams, and they studied very hard, but neither of them was too good at the practical side of any of their classes.

On Friday evening, Harry did not see either Andy or Jose, and he wondered where they are right now.

After dinner, Herbert approached Harry, and informed him that Andy and Jose had accidentally caused a disaster in Potions, and they were both in the sickbay recovering.

"Emmitt had told me all this," he said. "It only caused him a minor injury and he said he would be fine."

"Do they always cause problems in Potions class?" Harry asked.

"No, not always," Herbert said. "Emmitt stated that they sometimes did quite well in Potions."

Harry simply didn't have the time to go and see them, since his homework was too much for him to do so at this stage.

After he had finished his homework, it was already half-past eight, but he didn't want to sleep yet, and then Alma approached him.

"Finished your homework, Alma?" he asked.

"I'll do it tomorrow," Alma replied carelessly.

o-o

Harry had glimpsed at Alma several times on the following day in the library, and he did see her writing using her quills.

He didn't bother watching her closely at what she was doing; since he was busy reading anyway.

One hour before lunchtime, Alma left the library.

At the same time, Amanda received a letter from home, informing her that her mother was pregnant.

She didn't know if she should tell Joshua about this, but she knew that one day he would probably know it anyway; since Joshua had been to her house for quite a good amount of time during the school holidays in July.

She knew that at the moment she was an only child, and her parents had been making decisions on having another one for a long time.

She decided to not say anything about this to anyone in her year for the time being.

She sat in the common room and pored over her books.

Herbert was also studying, and his progress happened to be quite caught up with the rest of his class at this time.

During lunchtime, Andy and Jose were still nowhere to be seen.

Emmitt kept on asking Herbert when they will be all right again, and Herbert said that he didn't know, but he would visit Andy and Jose as soon as lunchtime is over.

Harry and Hermione were concerned about Andy and Jose as well, but since they knew they still have more to study, they couldn't visit them.

After lunchtime, as Harry and Hermione made their way back to the common room, while they were on their way, they saw Professor Collins and Professor Wagner facing two fourth-year students.

"Those rooms are out of bounds to all the students," Professor Wagner said.

Harry and Hermione crept past them and reached the common room.

They started to read books again, and they hardly looked up.

o-o

Most fifth-year students were quite busy, particularly those who were not too keen on studying. They didn't find anything that they were taught in the class as easy as they had thought to be, and some fifth years had decided to put down their books to rest for a while.

They knew that wandering around in the school grounds for too long would not help them get better grades, so they decided to do this as occasionally as possible, at least until the exams are over.

On the following Monday, during their Herbology class, Professor Whitlock had begun to teach the students how to handle a few new magical plants which would be coming up in their exams. She mentioned that she will start revision in mid-September.

This relieved Harry and Hermione.

"Great," Harry said after their double Herbology class. "I don't have to worry about anything in this subject except for revision in mid-September."

"I wonder how much more we need to learn from the other teachers, still," Hermione said.

After the break, Harry and Hermione entered the Transfiguration class, and they sat down.

They were relieved to hear that they would no longer be learning new topics in Transfiguration after August, and then Professor Wagner started to explain what would be likely to come up in the UWS exams.

A few of the sixth year students, however, had started to panic after Professor Wagner's lecture, since they didn't study enough.

As soon as the sixth year students were being dismissed from Transfiguration, they made their way into the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.

Professor Bailey told the sixth years that they would be starting their revision very soon, and this caused the sixth years to feel slightly relieved. However, a few sixth-year students still worried that they would not pass their exams since they didn't study much.

o-o

That evening, Harry and Hermione could see a lot of fifth years studying in the common room, and after they had finished their homework, they heard a few of the fifth years muttering that they were only half-way through.

Knowing the time was getting late, Harry and Hermione hugged each other, and went back to bed.

Andy and Jose, who had been released from the sickbay on Sunday morning after breakfast, did not relax during the next few days.

"Luckily we didn't miss any class because of our stay in the sickbay," Andy said.

"Yeah, and we better make sure that we don't cause disasters in the Potions class again," Jose said.

The sixth years' Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson on the following day was learning a few new spells, and he didn't find any of them that difficult, although he didn't find them as easy as he had thought of.

The rest of the class was quite frustrated about the latest spells that they had been taught, and Professor Bailey recommended the students to at least know how to use them; since any of them could be in their practical exams.

"Don't worry, there's still plenty of time for you to master these spells," he said.

Harry and Hermione knew that they had enough time to practise, so they tried to finish as much homework as they could straight after the class times had ended. They were mostly practising the spells that the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher had taught them, although they still practised for Charms exam and other practical work, like Potions.

Joshua, on the other hand, had finally managed to get his grip on Apparition, and he knew that he was ready to take his test, although he decided to take it after the exams had ended.

On Friday morning, Professor Baker announced that a few teachers were absent, and so certain classes like Charms, Transfiguration, and Defense Against the Dark Arts were cancelled for that day.

This caused the sixth years to have one free period, and Harry and Hermione decided to revise for exams again.

A few of the sixth year students who were frustrated with Charms practical spells were shocked to hear the news.

"You just need to practise," Joshua said. "I have mastered it."

A few students protested, and then Joshua wondered how they had managed to get into the sixth year. Alma decided to not care too much about exams anyway.

"I think Hermione had done it properly," Eddie said.

"Why don't we ask her, then?" Alma asked.

Hermione looked up, and she took a glance at the pair of them, then she turned back again.

Nevertheless, Roy was more worried about his exams than the sixth year students, he did not improve as much as he had expected, and he feared he might fail again. He didn't want to repeat the same year too many times and end up on getting his wand snapped.

He had received a few encouragement letters from his parents, but he was not convinced that he will be able to pass.

o-o

"Are there any students who had never passed their final year with at least Exceeds Expectations in all of their subjects at this school?" Harry asked Joshua on Saturday morning.

"Sometimes," Joshua replied. "The worst case would be that some students did not gain at least five UWS with at least Exceeds Expectations grade."

Harry stared at Joshua for a moment.

"Plus, most of those students had attended classes punctually, but some of them did not finish their homework, and some of them didn't do well in their exams, and they couldn't step up from OWL to UWS in at least five of their subjects. Those students who had at least four subjects with Exceeds Expectations had chosen to become Professors in Nesassino Wizarding Academy."

"You must have several friends who were a few years ahead of you when you first came into this school, then," Harry said.

"Yes," Joshua said.

On the final week of August, most of the fifth years had finally caught up with what they were currently learning, and they would be starting their revision at the final week of September.

"It seems that the exams take place three weeks before the end of the school year," Harry said.

"Definitely," Joshua said.

"We have like six weeks left to prepare for our exams," Hermione said.

As September arrived, all the students were quite busy, and the teachers were going over spells and theories with the students.

Harry and Hermione quizzed each other for a few weeks, and they knew that the exams would not be any difficulty.

Roy had finally caught up with his work, and he was progressing up to the point where he will be able to pass the exams. This made Joyce feel delighted.

_At least he wouldn't be kicked out of this school, _she thought.

But she knew that going back to Joshua would not help, she would no longer be able to persuade him to date her and become together again. She regretted her action when she thought about it.

Jose and Andy didn't fall behind, and they had managed to go through all the materials, and they were ready to face the exam that would be coming up soon.

On the final week of September, Harry and Hermione decided to relax slightly as they were a bit strained from a prolonged period of studying. They only occasionally gone over everything they had learnt to make sure that they don't forget anything during the exam.

o-o

The exam timetables were given out to the sixth years on the second Thursday of October, and the teachers mentioned the exam rules and everything the sixth years needed to know. It was pretty much the same kind of rules as the ones that they received during their fifth year in Sainite.

Harry and Hermione looked at the exam timetable, and they figured out what subject they should revise first. They decided to quiz each other again.

"I don't think we will have any problem with the exams," Hermione said.

Just like last year, Harry found no problem with any of the written exam, and he did well in the practical exams too.

At the end of the exam week, the sixth year students were informed that they would receive their exam results on the second week of November. There would also be a graduation ceremony which will be taking place shortly after that.

Several students panicked about their exam results, as it would be a count towards their future.

Harry and Hermione were confident that they should get at least Exceeds Expectations in all their subjects, they no longer felt it was that much of an importance to get Outstanding grades all along.

Too soon, it was time for the students to go home, and they were very excited that the school was over.

The last evening of the school arrived, Harry and Hermione were looking forward to going back home. and they would soon be applying for jobs after they receive their UWS results.

o-o

Upon arriving back home, Harry and Hermione eagerly waited for their exam results.

They received their results by owl on the first Tuesday of November.

Harry took his letter, opened it, and began to read.

**S****AINITE**** ACADEMY OF MAGICAL ARTS**

**HARRY JAMES POTTER HAS ACHIEVED**

**Pass Grades**

_Outstanding (O)_

_Exceeds Expectations (E)_

_Acceptable (A)_

**Fail Grades**

_Poor (P)_

_Dreadful (D)_

_Troll (T)_

Transfiguration: O

Charms: O

Potions: O

Arithmancy: O

Ancient Runes: O

Herbology: E

History of Magic: E

Defense Against the Dark Arts: O

Harry also found a few more parchments, one of which was the notice about the graduation that would take place on the tenth of November at five o'clock in Sainite, and the other one was a list of career options that he could choose from.

Then he and Hermione took a look at each other's results, and he found that while Hermione didn't get anything under Exceeds Expectations, she didn't get all Outstanding either this time, though she only had an E in Herbology.

Sirius, Dan and Emma were impressed as they heard that Harry and Hermione passed their exams with top grades.

The graduation ceremony was bustled with noise and excitement, and as Harry received his graduation certificate, he beamed at the others. Even Elisha had graduated, as he did not fail any of his subjects during the year.

It took the Headmaster about one hour to give away all the certificates, and then refreshments were served. Harry and Hermione stayed there, and they talked to their fellow students.

Before Harry and Hermione left the school, they promised their friends that they will keep in touch with each other.

End of the chapter


	34. Chapter 34

Chapter 34

**Wedding and Interlude**

Disclaimer: Everything in Harry Potter universe belongs to J.K. Rowling. I got nothing out of this except for enjoyment.

Harry and Hermione had been preparing for their wedding before their graduation day, and as of now, they knew that it will come very soon.

Thinking back in the past, Harry had been into many problems while he was in Britain, but right now he knew he didn't need to worry about them any longer.

Harry had sent out several letters to his friends to come to the wedding, and it would be taking place in a hotel.

Sirius, Dan and Emma had promised that they would be there to support their wedding, and Harry and Hermione were practising their vows over and over again. They knew they had less than two weeks to memorise the vows they would be using in their wedding.

They had managed to make it at the twenty-first of November, and Sirius was looking forward to Harry and Hermione's wedding day.

On Harry and Hermione's wedding day, twenty fourth of November, Harry and Hermione apparated to the hotel that they had decided to get married in, and Sirius side-along apparated Dan and Emma to the hotel a few minutes later.

Harry could see Joshua and Amanda standing outside the hotel, and then he and Hermione greeted them.

The Minister of Magic arrived about ten minutes later, and then he asked everyone to go into the hotel, and the Minister of Magic went onto the platform.

"Wow!" Hermione exclaimed, seeing the tables and the foods, as well as the decorations. "This is wonderful."

A moment later, the Minister of Magic called for everyone's attention.

"Today we are celebrating the joy of a young couple who will be getting married soon," he said.

He walked down from the platform and gestured Harry and Hermione to come to him. Sirius, Dan and Emma followed behind.

"Who gives permission for this man to be married to this woman?" the Minister asked.

"I, Sirius Black, Harry's Godfather, gives him permission for him to be married to her," Sirius answered.

"And who gives permission for this woman to be married to this man?" the Minister asked again.

"His mother and I do," Dan answered.

"Hermione, do you take Harry as your beloved husband?" he asked.

"I do," Hermione replied.

"Harry, do you take Hermione as your beloved wife?" the Minister asked.

"I do," Harry said.

"Let's start your vows, then," he said. "Harry, you start first."

"Hermione, you are the person I want to share my life with. I want to be the one to give you warmth when you are cold, comfort when you are in pain, joy when you are sad. I will care for you as you care for me, sharing equally in the responsibilities we both bring to our marriage. I will support you in all your endeavours. I give you my trust and promise to be worthy of your trust. I will remain by your side now and forever as your husband. I give you this ring as a symbol of my love for you, let it be a reminder that I am always by your side and I will always be a faithful partner to you."

Harry slipped the wedding ring onto Hermione's ring finger, and then he smiled.

"Hermione, you may proceed," the Minister of Magic said.

"Harry, from this day forward I promise you these things, I will laugh with you in times of joy and comfort you in times of sorrow. I will share in your dreams and support you as you strive to achieve your goals. I will listen to you with compassion and understanding, and speak to you with encouragement. I will remain faithful to our vows for better or for worse, in times of sickness and health. You are my best friend and I will love and respect you always. I give you this ring as a visible and constant symbol of my promise to be with you as long as I live."

Hermione slipped the wedding ring onto Harry's ring finger, and she smiled sweetly at him.

"Harry, you may kiss your bride," the Minister of Magic said.

Harry leaned to Hermione and kissed her.

The people who were invited applauded at them, and Sirius, Dan and Emma felt so happy with the pair of them.

Food was then served, and the wedding guests were congratulating them.

Harry danced with Hermione several times. As they felt exhausted, they sat down and had some food, then they went back and danced again.

Joshua and Amanda were dancing as well, and a few other people gazed them for a few moments before they turned away.

Andy and Jose were feeling optimistic about the wedding, they were hoping to find their match as they come of age.

Harry also took the opportunity to dance with some other girls who had attended the wedding, while Hermione went and danced with some other boys.

"Surely this Christmas will be quite eventful to you and Harry," Joshua said to Hermione.

"It will be," Hermione said.

"I had a hard time pursuing relationships, and it was rather difficult for me to find someone who would understand me and love me," Joshua said. "I bet a lot of people would have wanted to pursue you."

"Maybe," Hermione said. "But I know who is the right one for me, and I wouldn't pick someone so lazy and not want to do things."

It was one of the best nights in Harry's life, marrying a smart, beautiful girl who cared so much about him; and knowing that they would be living with each other throughout their lives.

The wedding ended at eight o'clock, Harry and Hermione thanked the people who attended their wedding, and they left.

As Harry, Hermione, Sirius, Dan and Emma arrived back home, Dan asked about how long Harry and Hermione would be away from home for their honeymoon.

"Three weeks," Harry said.

"Yeah, I think this would be enough for us," Hermione said.

o-o

25th November 1997

Harry and Hermione apparated to British Columbia, Vancouver, at quarter past nine and they booked a hotel in Pan Pacific Whistler Village Centre, then they visited the Vancouver Aquarium at half-past nine in the morning.

"Wow," Hermione said as she saw a few penguins.

"This looks great," Harry said. 

They watched in awe as they saw a few other animals, and they lingered there for two hours before they left.

They had lunch in a restaurant called Rickys All Day Grill, they had Panko Breaded Prawns as their starter, and they had Soup of the day and Harry had Piccolo Garlic Bread where Hermione had Rustic Kale and Chorizo Flatbread pizza.

After they had eaten, they went back to the hotel they booked earlier.

Then they sat on the bed, and they began to explore the hotel room.

The room wasn't too big, but it was large enough for them to live in.

"There are loads of places that we can go while we stay here," Harry said.

"Besides, we may not even be able to finish visiting this place even within three weeks," Hermione said. "We only booked this hotel for one week, though."

"Maybe we can book another hotel and still stay in the same region," Harry said.

"If you want to linger here a bit longer, we could, but we will miss other places," Hermione said. "We can come back sometime next year if you want to."

Hermione considered for a moment.

"So what should we do tomorrow?" she asked.

"We will see where we can go," Harry said.

For the afternoon, they stayed in the hotel, and they began to consider the possible places they could visit.

"I think we could spend most of our days going to places in both mornings and afternoons," Harry said.

"Not today though," Hermione said. "We just settled in, and we want to rest a bit before we consider doing that."

Harry nodded.

They went outside and sat down, enjoying the sceneries outside their hotel room.

One hour later, they went back to their hotel room.

"Such a nice place," Harry said.

"Indeed," Hermione agreed.

At half-past five, Harry and Hermione cooked dinner.

"I don't think the foods we take with us are available for three weeks," Harry said.

"We will have to do some shopping as we move from place to place," Hermione said. "We can't afford to just eat in restaurants for all our meals throughout this entire trip."

"We could have some of our breakfasts in restaurants so that we don't have to buy too much food," Harry said.

"Good idea," Hermione agreed.

After dinner, Harry and Hermione closed the curtains, and they turned on the lights.

They played board games a few times, and then they put it away.

As they went to bed, they held hands with each other before they drift off to sleep.

On the following morning, Harry and Hermione woke up early, and they went into a restaurant for breakfast.

They apparated to Ricky's All Day Grill, and Harry had Yukon Big Bite whereas Hermione had Steaks and Eggs.

After breakfast, they walked out of Ricky's All Day Grill, and they apparated back to their hotel.

They rested for a little while, and then Hermione mentioned that they should familiarise themselves with this place so they could go to some other restaurants for breakfast for the rest of the week, like the place near their hotel.

Then they went to Fort Langley Historic Site to visit the Fraser River Valley, and then they visited a few other places.

On their way back, they had lunch at Patio Terrace.

After lunch, they visited Vancouver Maritime Museum, and they saw some artefacts and collections, as well as their history.

"Interesting," Hermione said.

They departed the museum at four o'clock.

As soon as they made their way back to their hotel, they decided to look around to see if there were any restaurants nearby, so they could go to a restaurant more conveniently.

As soon as they discovered a few restaurants they could eat in, they went back to their hotel.

Harry checked his watch.

"It's five o'clock now," he said.

After they finished dinner, Harry cleared the table, and magically cleaned the stain of the empty dishes.

On the following morning, they went to Dubh Linn Gate for breakfast, Harry had Harvest Hash whereas Hermione had Tomato and Avocado Poached Eggs.

After breakfast, they went out of Dubh Linn Gate, and they went to the Vancouver Art Gallery.

"These arts looks quite cool," Hermione said as they walked in.

"These artists must have been quite famous," Harry said. "I never heard of them."

They stayed there for a few hours, then they realised that it was half-past twelve.

They had sandwiches for lunch at the Gallery Cafe and Catering.

After lunch, they went back to their Hotel.

On the following day, they visited the Capilano Suspension Bridge Park.

After they paid the fee, they entered the park and began to explore it.

It was no surprises that a lot of other people were also in the park, and Harry and Hermione were amazed that there are so much to look at. They visited the Suspension Bridge, and they experienced the Cliffwalk, Treetops Adventure and such, and they stayed in one place for at least twenty minutes.

They had lunch at Dr Wood's Cabin.

After lunch, they Apparated back into the hotel.

2nd December 1997

Harry and Hermione apparated to Kelowna, went to Royal Anne Hotel and booked a room there.

They prepared lunch, and then they discussed what they will be doing on the following day.

"There's a lot of things to do here, love," Harry said.

They went to several places during the week. On Wednesday morning they went to Okanagan Regional Library, and they read a few books there.

They departed at around noon, and they had lunch at a restaurant called Bar Tong Thai Food Restaurant.

After lunch, they walked around for a little bit, familiarizing themselves with the restaurants near their hotel.

"There seems to be a variety of options," Harry said.

On the following day, they visited Kelowna City.

They gazed at the city in awe as they walked on the pathways, it was a different experience than the previous week.

A few hours later, they apparated back to the hotel and went to Tonic Pub and Grill for lunch.

After lunch, they explored a few more places before they went back to their hotel.

"There seemed to be lots to see around here," said Harry.

They spent the next day visiting the Cultural District in Kelowna City. after that, they visited High Browse Books and bought a few of them, then they began to read them.

9th December 1997

Harry and Hermione apparated to Ontario, Toronto, and they booked a hotel in Fairmount Royal York, and they settled in.

After lunch, they went to visit Ripley's Aquarium.

They saw some galleries inside the aquarium, as well as some reefs, and some dangerous lagoons, etc. They were sometimes a bit too attracted that they lingered for quite a while before they left to look at other things.

They departed the aquarium at three o'clock, and then they apparated back to their hotel.

On the following day, they went and visited the CN Towers, and they saw the many attractions from above.

"I feel a bit scary," Hermione said. "It's too high."

After a few minutes, Hermione's emotions steadied a bit, but she was still terrified.

On the following day, they visited Old Town Toronto, and they saw the history of Toronto, then they went shopping in St. Lawrence Market.

On Friday, they visited Casa Loma, the Tonoro's Majestic Castle, and they saw the furniture, portraits, etc. They also visited the Casa Loma Gardens.

"This looks quite good," Hermione observed.

"The rooms looked rather fascinating too," Harry said.

Their remaining days inside the hotel passed, and they arrived back home on the sixteenth of December.

They discovered that Sirius, Dan and Emma were not in the house, so they settled down.

"We are finally home," Harry said.

o-o

Over the next few days, Sirius and the Grangers set up the Christmas tree, and they began to plan what they want to do for Christmas.

"We will buy a house to live in after New Year," Harry said, as Hermione pointed out that they should have a house on their own.

Sirius told Harry and Hermione that he would be on holiday on the twenty-third of December, and he would be back to work on the fifth of January, whereas Dan and Emma would be on holiday on the twenty-third of December, and go back to work after New Years Holiday.

"Do you have any plans for Christmas?" asked Sirius.

Dan and Emma shook their heads.

"We will just have a Christmas dinner on our own then," Sirius said. "No one had even invited us to go to their house on Christmas Day."

Dan went and did some Christmas shopping, and he arrived back with loads of bags.

Harry and Hermione helped him to put the groceries away, and then they went back to Harry's room and sat down.

o-o

It was Christmas Eve, Voldemort was sitting in Little Helengton, and he suddenly felt something calling him to come to Bathilda's house.

"Hold him," he responded.

A moment later, he went out of the house and glanced around, then he heard another message.

"Don't kill him, keep him alive until I arrive," he said.

Seeing no one was there, he apparated right outside the door of Bathilda's house, and he entered in.

As soon as he entered, he saw two middle-aged Muggles, one was male and one was female, they were being blasted back into Bathilda's room.

They struggled and tried to escape, but they could not apparate out, and then they were being blocked, now they were facing Voldemort.

"Avada Kedavra!" Voldemort shouted, pointing his wand at the man, and a jet of green light hit him, and he fell.

"Avada Kedavra!" Voldemort shouted again, pointing his wand at the woman, and a jet of green light hit her, and she fell, unmoving.

Voldemort knew one of them was Harry Potter, but he assumed that Harry was under the influence of Polyjuice Potion.

He apparated the two people who he had killed back to Little Hangleton.

_I shall have to see their true identity. _He thought.

He took a glance at the man's neck and saw the chain, then he snatched it off him, realising that it was the locket.

Then he checked all the pockets of the man's jacket, and he found a pair of glasses.

He placed the locket on the table and sighed.

He decided to wait for their true identity to appear.

One minute passed, five minutes passed, and minute by minute, Voldemort gasped his breath.

And then, finally, the body changed, it was a dark-haired man and a brunette woman.

He put the glasses on the dark-haired man, knowing that the man was none other than Harry Potter, and the other one must be Hermione Granger.

End of Chapter


	35. Chapter 35

Chapter 35

**The Extra Darkness**

Disclaimer: Everything in Harry Potter universe belongs to J.K. Rowling. I got nothing out of this except for enjoyment.

It was early Christmas morning, Ron was in Shell Cottage, listening to the radio.

"There was an attack happened in Godric Hollow last evening, a man and a woman were killed in Godric Hollow, they were both Polyjuice Potion disguised middle-aged people."

"Their actual identity is Harry Potter and Hermione Granger."

Ron gasped, and he could not bear to think what had happened during his fight with Harry.

_It's not like I am not having the time of my life here, you know, with my arm mangled and nothing to eat and freezing my backside every night, I just hoped, you know, when we have been here around a few weeks, we have achieved something._

These words were the things that he had thought about, right after Hermione had told Harry that the Sword could destroy Horcruxes. He couldn't bring himself to think any further with what Harry had said to him.

_I thought you knew what you signed up for._

It was true, indeed, after all, he did promise that he would go with Harry to hunt the Horcruxes, but he only made the promise because he thought that Harry knew what he was doing, and it turned out that Dumbledore didn't leave him with any clues on how to destroy a Horcrux.

After he left Harry and Hermione, he had ran into a gang of snatchers. After escaping from them, he decided to not go back to the Burrow since he didn't want his parents and his siblings to shout at him for leaving his two best friends on such a vital mission like this.

He was relieved that Bill had at least understood what he was thinking, but he didn't know whether Bill would go mad at him and drive him out of the house if he had heard that Harry and Hermione were killed.

He decided to hide his feelings about this.

Breakfast was silent, and it went very quickly.

After Ron went back into his room, he sat down, and he has no idea what to do right now.

The morning passed without anything odd happening, as soon as the clock turned eleven, an owl landed by the window in the living room, carrying the Daily Prophet.

Bill opened the window, and the owl flew in.

Bill detached the Daily Prophet from the owl, and the owl flew away.

As soon as Bill glanced at the Daily Prophet, he gasped when he saw the news that Harry and Hermione were dead.

He didn't know if he should be angry at Ron about this or not, given that Ron had left Harry and Hermione.

"What is it?" Fleur asked Bill.

"Harry and Hermione were both killed," Bill said.

"This is not good news," Fleur said. "Ron left them."

"Don't know what my parents are going to say when they hear about this," Bill said.

o-o

"Oh no!" Arthur said as he received the Daily Prophet.

"What's wrong, Dad?" Fred asked.

"Harry and Hermione were both killed," Arthur answered.

Fred and George gathered around Arthur, and they looked at the contents of the Daily Prophet.

"How come Ron was not mentioned?" asked George.

"Maybe Ron had gone missing or something," Fred answered.

A moment later, Molly arrived in the living room.

"What's the matter?" she asked.

"Harry and Hermione were both killed by You-Know-Who," Arthur said blankly.

"Harry and Hermione what?" said a voice.

Arthur looked around and saw Ginny.

"They were killed by You-Know-Who in Godric Hollow, Ginny," he said.

Ginny gasped.

"Tell me that this didn't happen," she said hopefully.

"The Daily Prophet had said that they were disguised as middle-aged people when they were killed," Arthur went on.

"What about Ron?" asked Molly.

"Yeah, I wonder what happened to him, as his name didn't appear in the prophet," Arthur answered.

"How come Ron was not mentioned anywhere in the prophet?" Molly asked. "Ron was supposed to be with Harry and Hermione, right?"

"He should be with them, but I don't know what happened to him. If You-Know-Who or the Death Eaters killed him, they would report it on the Daily Prophet, but since his name was not mentioned, it was likely that he walked out on Harry and Hermione. Don't you think?" Arthur asked.

"I received a letter from Bill, saying that they didn't want to come back here for Christmas," Molly said.

"And what does this have to do with Ron not being mentioned in the prophet?" asked Fred.

"Both of you have a point. It seems that there is a possibility that Ron may be in Bill's house," Arthur said. "Or else if he was with Harry and Hermione, he would have been mentioned in the prophet too, regardless of what happened to him."

"Why did Ron leave Harry and Hermione then?" Ginny asked with a streak of tears in her eyes.

The Weasleys fell silent.

"I will go to Shell Cottage with George," Fred said.

Molly could not think of a better idea, so she nodded.

Fred and George turned on the spot and apparated to Shell Cottage.

o-o

"Fred, George, you both scared the crap out of me," Bill said, seeing their sudden appearance.

"Is Ron in here?" Fred asked.

Bill nodded.

"Let him come here at once, I want to have a word with him," Fred said.

Bill nodded, then he walked into Ron's bedroom.

A moment later, Ron arrived and saw the twins.

"Fred, George, what are you both doing here?" he asked.

"Explain yourself, Ron, what happened? Why did you leave Harry and Hermione?" George asked.

"How did you know that I left Harry and Hermione?" asked Ron.

"The Daily Prophet reported that Harry and Hermione were both killed, but you were not mentioned," George answered. "If you were with them, you may be killed too, and you would be mentioned."

Ron sighed. He knew he could not hide it.

"Harry didn't seem to have any plan whatsoever," he said.

"Did you start a fight with him?" Fred asked.

"I did," Ron answered. "I cannot tell you what we were doing, but we need to find something to destroy an object."

"What object?" asked Fred.

"A locket," Ron said.

Fred and George both shook their heads.

"What did you need to find to destroy the locket?" George asked.

"The Sword of Gryffindor," Ron replied. "But we were living in a condition of lack of food, and my backside freezes every night."

"We all face problems in our lives, Ron," Fred said. "You decided to go with Harry, right? Now you abandoned him, and he and Hermione ended up on getting killed."

"Don't tell me that it was my fault that Harry and Hermione got killed by You-Know-Who," Ron said.

Fred shook his head again.

"I am not saying that, but it was wrong that you left Harry and Hermione," he said. "Plus that your action had wasted our efforts."

Ron knew that Fred was right, that he and George had transfigured the family ghoul into himself with serious illness, to prevent the Ministry from tracking him. Nevertheless, his departure from Harry and Hermione had ruined it.

If the Death Eaters had managed to find him, they would most likely force him to go back to Hogwarts, and if he refuses to go back to Hogwarts, there would be a chance for him to be arrested.

There was only one thing he knew that he should say which he thinks may justify his action.

"I wanted to go back to them after I had left, but I ran into a gang of snatchers, and couldn't go anywhere," he said. "I escaped from them successfully, but when I went back to where we had been, Harry and Hermione were gone."

"Fair enough," Fred said. "Except now we have to consider what we should do."

Then he and George Disapparated.

o-o

Ron knew that everything was too late. He was devastated about Harry and Hermione's fate. He knew that he would be in trouble from the rest of his family.

He had no idea whether he should reveal anything about what they were doing to his family, but he was not convinced of whether or not they will help him to fulfil the task that Dumbledore had given Harry.

He hoped that he would not see anyone else in his family for the day, especially Ginny, who would end up on blaming him.

He did not know what he should say to Bill, although he was quite relieved that he could still live with them.

Running away would surely not be an option; since it would help no one. As of now, he was the only one who knows about the task that Dumbledore had set for Harry.

However, the thing that he worried about still happened.

After breakfast on the following day, there was a knock on the door, and Bill went to open it.

It was Molly and Ginny.

"Mum, Ginny, what are you two doing here?" he asked.

Ron knew it was his mother and his little sister who came to visit Shell Cottage, and he desperately wanted to look for a place to hide.

Before he could do that, however, Molly and Ginny appeared.

"Ronald Billius Weasley!" Molly shouted. "What do you think you are playing at?"

"What?" Ron asked, and then he regretted saying it; since he knew that they must have heard about Harry and Hermione's death.

Ginny looked at Ron, and a livid expression surfaced on her face.

"Your two best friends got killed in Godric Hollow!" Molly roared. "Harry never expected you to go with him to do the stuff that Dumbledore had left him to do, but you insisted, and then you left him!"

"You better think of a reasonable excuse for leaving them, Ron," Ginny said firmly.

Ron sighed. Things had turned out just as he expected a few moments ago.

"Harry didn't know what he was doing," he said. "We found something to destroy, but we have to find ways to destroy it, and we have to find the object that can destroy it."

"Did you guys even make any progress?" Ginny asked.

"Yes, but it was just the object itself, we also had to find the means to destroy it," Ron said. "Anyway, before I left, I asked Hermione whether she stays with Harry or not..."

"And Hermione chose to stay with Harry didn't she?" Ginny interrupted.

"Yes," Ron said. "Then I was in the sensation that she chose Harry instead of me, so I left."

Molly and Ginny both shook their heads.

"Anyway, I wanted to go back after I left them, but I went straight into a gang of snatchers, and I had to talk fast to prevent myself from being dragged into the Ministry," Ron said.

"And how did you escape from them?" Molly asked.

"I told them I was Stan Shunpike, and they had an argument about whether I was Stan or not," Ron said. "There were five of them, and they took my wand. Two of them then got into a fight, and while the others were distracted, I managed to hit the one who held me in the stomach, grabbed his wand, disarmed the one that held my wand and Disapparated. Then I was heading back to the place where we had been, but they were gone."

Molly and Ginny both fell silent.

"Do you think this is a good excuse for us to let you off?" Molly asked.

"What else can I say?" asked Ron.

Molly and Ginny both shook their heads again.

Ron looked at his mother and Ginny hopelessly, and he knew that they wouldn't be happy with him. Thoughts came up from him that his mother and sister had considered that it would be all right for him to be captured by the Death Eaters, and given the choice of either going back to Hogwarts or being sent to Azkaban.

o-o 

Severus Snape had heard about Harry and Hermione's deaths, he wasn't too pleased. As soon as he confided this news with Albus Dumbledore's portrait, Albus sighed.

"Can you tell me how far they had progressed on doing the mission I had given them, Severus?" he asked.

"I wasn't watching them, so no," Snape replied.

"Harry was supposed to die, but if Voldemort killed him, he should be able to come back, since Voldemort took his blood a few years ago, and Lily's protection was inside him, Voldemort had taken a bit of the protection from Harry," Dumbledore said. "In this case, while Voldemort survives, Harry will also be alive."

"I shall have to see whether he came back to life or not," Snape said. "I'll check it with the Dark Lord."

"You can do that, but be careful," Dumbledore said. "Don't tell Voldemort what I told you."

Snape nodded.

Then he walked out of the Headmaster's office.

o-o

Voldemort, meanwhile, was in Little Hangleton, and he was overjoyed that Harry Potter and Hermione Granger were killed.

All of a sudden, there was a knock on the door.

Voldemort went and opened it, and found that it was Snape.

"What do you want from me, Severus?" he asked.

"I just want to check Harry Potter's body, that's all," Snape said.

Voldemort led Snape in, and Snape looked at Harry.

"I'll tell you whether he is dead or not," he said, and he pointed his wand at the fake Harry, and said. "Crucio!"

The fake Harry didn't move, nor did he twitch in pain.

"He's dead," Snape said. "We will meet again later, unless if you want something from me right now."

Voldemort shook his head.

"You may go, Severus, I'll call you when I need you," he said.

Snape walked out of the house, apparated back to Hogsmeade, then he made his way back to Hogwarts.

As soon as he reached the Headmaster's office, he looked at the Dumbledore in the portrait.

"Did Harry come back to life?" the Dumbledore in the portrait asked.

"No, I've checked with the Dark Lord, Harry Potter is dead now," Snape replied.

"That means he must have chosen to go on," Dumbledore said.

"Does this matter?" Snape asked.

"It matters," Dumbledore said. "Since I had no idea how far Harry and his friends had progressed on completing the mission I had given them, I don't know if there is any chance for the mission to be completed."

"I do not expect you to give me any information on this," Snape said. "You made it clear to me about this before."

"I did, but now circumstances change, so I had to let at least you and someone else in Hogwarts know about it," Dumbledore said.

o-o

Harry and Hermione, meanwhile, were helping to prepare for Christmas dinner.

"This Christmas is going to be wonderful, our first Christmas as a married couple," Hermione said.

The Christmas dinner was ample, there were loads of delicious dishes, and Harry helped himself to potatoes, bacon and egg pie, as well as turkey.

"Have you both thought about what job you want to apply yet?" Sirius asked Harry and Hermione.

"We will see," Harry said.

After dinner, everyone was sitting on the sofa, and they watched the television until nine o'clock, then Harry and Hermione went to Harry's room and they slept together.

o-o

Ron was in a quandary, he did not know how he would be able to complete the task that Dumbledore had left Harry. Although he knew that the Death Eaters would still believe that he was seriously ill with spattergroit, his two friends had been killed by Voldemort, and even if no one had discovered where he was, it would not be much of a big deal anymore.

As the days passed by, he began to think what he should do as Bill began to shun him, and hardly talk to him anymore. He tried to tell Bill that he wanted to go back to Harry and Hermione as soon as he had left, but Bill told him that while his explanations were reasonable, they don't do any help with ending the war.

Fleur, on the other hand, did not know what to say to Ron, she knows that Ron's family must have already heard about what happened to Harry and Hermione, and she was sure that Ron would be shunned.

She frequently saw Ron threw things in his room, and she could hear him sobbing and weeping, and sometimes when she and Bill were out of the house and came back home later in the day, she could see a good amount of empty Firewhiskey bottles placed beside the rubbish bin. When they entered Ron's room, they could see that Ron was blue in the face, and unconscious, and they both knew that Ron must be drunk. Bill made a potion and revived Ron from drunkenness.

Bill told Ron that he would no longer purchase anymore Firewhiskeys since he knew that Ron would most likely consume them all.

Ron didn't know what else he should say, he nodded, and he began to think about what he should do.

He cried and cried as the last day of December arrived, and it would surely be a sad New Year because of Harry and Hermione's deaths.

He did not know how on the name of Merlin would this war end.

o-o

Filius Flitwick had talked to Dumbledore's portrait in Snape's office, and he had managed to discover the Diadem of Ravenclaw, and he gave it to Snape.

Right after Snape destroyed the Diadem with the Sword of Gryffindor, he decided to visit Gringotts vault to see if he could find another Horcrux. The only problem he had, was the fact that the Goblins may not allow him to enter someone else's vault, and he did not know which vault might contain another Horcrux.

He also knew that he had to keep the information that Dumbledore had given him to himself; since it would be a problem if it leaked out to the Death Eaters, it could easily put him in danger.

o-o

Ron, meanwhile, had managed to get into the Leaky Cauldron, and he got drunk. As soon as he exited the Leaky Cauldron, he got caught by a bunch of Death Eaters who had randomly arrived there and knocked into him, they revived him and took him to Malfoy Manor.

End of Chapter


	36. Chapter 36

Chapter 36

**Employment**

Disclaimer: Everything in Harry Potter universe belongs to J.K. Rowling. I got nothing out of this except for enjoyment.

Severus Snape was not in a good mood, apart from Gringotts, he did not know where the other Horcruxes were, apart from Nagini, who was with Voldemort most of the time.

He wondered if Voldemort knew that one of his Horcruxes had gone or not, although he had hoped that the answer would be no.

He decided to go on another trip to Little Hangleton to see if he could find any more Horcruxes.

He knew that killing the Snake would not be an easy task, even if he had managed to kill it, if Voldemort was with the Snake, he would become more alerted about his Horcruxes.

He knew that asking the rest of the Hogwarts staff for help would be a foolish idea, and he didn't think that would have helped anyway even if they agreed to help him with the task.

He paced up and down in his office, just as another owl arrived, and it informed him about the fact that Ronald Weasley was in Malfoy Manor.

He chucked the Daily Prophet aside, although he was a bit surprised that Ron had put out a story that he was seriously ill with spattergroit, he knew that Ron had been exposed to the Death Eaters.

o-o

Ginny Weasley was not happy, not only because Harry and Hermione got killed in Bathilda's house, but also the fact that she received another news saying that Ron had been taken to Malfoy Manor.

Such incidents, especially the fact that Ron had been captured, might also cause her whole family to be targeted by the Death Eaters.

She talked to her parents, just to see if it would be better to go somewhere else.

Molly was surprised when Ginny told her the idea to get to another country, and she suggested that while it was a good idea to get to another country, it wouldn't help the Wizarding Britain in any way, and she suggested that Ginny drops out of Hogwarts due to its state.

A moment later, Remus and Tonks arrived at the Burrow.

"Hi Remus, hi Tonks," Molly said.

"Hi Molly, bad news had happened," Remus said as he and Tonks went in.

"We know that Ron has been captured by the Death Eaters," Molly said.

"This place is no longer safe," Remus said, nodding. "Your family would be targeted soon enough."

Arthur was in a quandary as well, for one thing, he was not happy with the fact that Ron had left Harry and Hermione, for another, he knew that he would no longer be able to go back to work due to the fact that Ron had been uncovered, and he hoped that Bill had also received the message about this, too.

Bill and Fleur arrived a few moments later, and Arthur asked them whether or not they knew about the fact that Ron had been captured, and Bill said that he had received the news about this.

"I can't even go back to Hogwarts anymore," Ginny said. "If I do, I may be targeted."

"We know that," Fred said.

After lunch, Remus and Tonks suggest that they should just leave Britain.

"Not all of us should leave, though, or else how on earth would the war in the Wizarding Britain end?" Tonks asked.

"I know," Remus said.

o-o

Meanwhile, in Malfoy Manor, Ron had met Dean and Luna, and Luna was surprised to see him.

"Did either of you hear the news that Harry was dead?" Ron asked.

"We did," Luna said.

"Don't know what they are going to do to me now," Ron said.

"Are you worried that the rest of your family may be targeted?" asked Luna.

"Yes," Ron said. "Anyway, since when did you arrive here, Luna?"

"When I was on the train back home for the school holidays," Luna answered.

Silence fell between them, and a moment later, Luna was speaking again.

"I thought you were together with Harry and Hermione," she said.

"I was," Ron confessed. "It is just that Harry does not know what he was doing, so I left him and Hermione."

"And what happened then?" Luna asked.

Ron dropped his voice and told Luna about what had happened, right from the time he left Harry and Hermione, and his meeting with the snatchers, and his escape from them, as well as what had happened afterwards.

"So when you heard that Harry and Hermione were dead, what did you do?" Luna asked.

"I felt that there's no more hope," Ron said, "and I decided to use Firewhiskey to drown my sorrows."

He paused for a moment.

"Tell me about Hogwarts," he said.

"It is not like Hogwarts anymore, Amycus was teaching what used to be Defense Against the Dark Arts, except now that it was just Dark Arts, and we were supposed to be using the Cruciatus Curse on anyone who earned detentions," Luna said. "Alecto was teaching Muggle Studies, and it was compulsory for everyone, she told us that Muggles were like animals, stupid and dirty, and how they drove Wizards into hiding by being vicious towards them, and how the natural order is being re-established."

Ron's heart sank as Luna finished speaking.

"This is crazy," he said, as he knew that Muggleborns were persecuted, and he didn't know what use it would be while Muggle Studies were in this state and all the Half-blood and Pure-blood students had to take it. On the other hand, he knew that only Slytherins would be using the Cruciatus Curse on other students, the Gryffindors, the Hufflepuffs, as well as the Ravenclaws would never dare using it even if they were forced to do so.

After the New Year's Holiday, Voldemort arrived at Malfoy Manor and interrogated Ron under Veritaserum, and he discovered that Ron was after his Horcruxes.

"Ronald Weasley, I am going to give you a chance, either you return to Hogwarts or you get killed," he said.

Ron considered for a moment, and he didn't know what he should do. If he chose to go back to Hogwarts, he would be taught Dark Spells, as he had seen from the Daily Prophet that Amycus was a Death Eater, and he's teaching the Dark Arts, and he would also be forced to attend Muggle Studies and listen to Alecto's nonsense comments about Muggles. If he chose to not go back to Hogwarts, he would be killed, but he didn't want to go to the dark side.

"I am going to give you twenty-four hours to think about this," Voldemort said. "I will leave now, and I will come back tomorrow."

Then he walked out of the room and disappeared.

Luna and Dean had heard part of the interrogation, and they didn't know what they should do.

A few moments later, Draco started to taunt Ron, and Ron would have loved to snap back but he didn't have a wand anymore since it was confiscated by the snatchers, and he feared that Draco might use spells on him if he snaps back.

o-o

Harry and Hermione, meanwhile, were looking for jobs on the Wizarding newspaper.

"There are a few positions we can fill in Nesassino Wizarding Academy," Harry said.

"But that school is a boarding school, and if we are going to fill in those positions, we would have to stay in school until the school holidays," Hermione said.

"We will see if there are other options," Harry said.

They scanned the list, discovering that there are also healer jobs available in the St Reed Wizarding Hospital, not to mention there were vacant positions in the Ministry of Magic.

"The Ministry needs people who are willing to work for the Accidental Magic Resolution Squad," Harry said.

"You may have to do things such as repairing splinch damage on some occasions if you go on this route," Hermione said. "Besides, I don't know if they will be willing to allow someone who had just graduated from school to do such things. In other words, there may be age restrictions in this field."

"We have already learnt the spell to repair splinch damage, but are you not interested in this job?" Harry asked.

"Not quite," Hermione said.

"I am going for it," Harry said.

Hermione said nothing, and she scanned down the list.

"The Council of Magical Law need a few people as well," she said.

"I'll have a look at the Accidental Magic Resolution though," Harry said.

"And you will be in the Ministry all weekdays," Hermione said. "You only will start to do things when accidental magic happens."

"I'll consider the Council of Magical Law if the Accidental Magic Resolution does not fit me," Harry said.

"You should ask Sirius about this as well," Hermione said.

Harry nodded.

As soon as Sirius arrived back from work, Harry inquired him about this.

"I am sure that there are other options you can choose," Sirius said. "You could be someone who works in the Portkey office."

"Let me get the newspaper, and I will see if that vacancy is available," Harry said.

After he fetched the newspaper, he glanced at it, but it didn't say that anyone was needed in the Portkey office.

Then he looked up, noticing that Sirius was standing in front of him.

"No vacancy on that field," Harry said.

"What about the Wizarding Court?" asked Sirius.

"Let's see," Harry said, and he scanned the list. "No, it didn't say anything."

That evening, Harry and Hermione sent a letter each to the Ministry of Magic, asking about the positions.

Two days later, they received their response.

Harry glanced at his letter, it said.

_Dear Mr Potter_

_Thank you for your interest in becoming a member of the Accidental Magic Resolution Squad._

_Unfortunately, we do not hire any Witches or Wizards who are under the age of twenty into this field, and if you want to get into this field, you will have to take some training courses anyway. You are allowed to take this type of training courses in the Ministry as long as you are seventeen or over._

_If you decided to take the training courses for this field, let us know._

_Regards_

_Eden Gillian_

_Head of Accidental Magic Resolution Squad_

Harry was in a bit of a dilemma, he wondered why the newspaper didn't mention the requirements to apply for this job.

Hermione seemed to be elated.

"Yes!" she exclaimed. "They are going to interview me on the eighth of January." 

"I had to write a letter for a different job," Harry said, then he showed his letter to Hermione.

"And I do not think it is a good idea for you to take training courses while I am working, even if those courses are free," Hermione said.

Harry glanced at the latest Wizarding newspaper, and he discovered that there are positions available in the Department of Futile Potions, which analyse whether a potion is useful or not.

"I'll try this one," he said.

He wrote a letter to the Ministry, and then he waited.

On the eighth of January, Hermione had been interviewed, and as she arrived back, she told Harry she was accepted, and she would start work from the following Monday.

On the same day, Harry received a reply from the Ministry, saying that he will have an appointment on the eleventh of January to attend a meeting in the Ministry at ten o'clock in the morning, and he was required to bring his UWS results.

Sirius was happy that he had heard Harry and Hermione were both going to be working soon, and he congratulated them.

"Thanks, Sirius," Harry said.

On the eleventh of January, Harry and Hermione went to the Ministry of Magic, and Harry was being greeted by a man.

"Hello, Mr Potter, to what do I owe this pleasure?" he asked.

Harry handed the letter he received to the man.

"Hmm," the man said as he unfolded the letter and glanced at it. "My name is Jeffery Shaw."

Then Harry gave Jeffery his UWS results.

As soon as Jeffery observed it, he smiled.

"I see that you have an Outstanding in Potions, and an Exceeds Expectations in Herbology," he said. "There are a lot more Outstandings, which is quite impressive. We require at least Exceeds Expectations on both of these subjects, and you have fulfilled the requirements."

"Let me tell you what this job involves," he said.

"This job involves handling useless potions, if any potion has caused problems to someone or if you see someone taking it but has no effect, you need to analyse the potions to see what effect they cause," he went on. "Just because a potion is useless doesn't mean it would not have any effect on anyone, it's just that if the effect would be of any use or not."

"Like Love Potions?" asked Harry.

"Precisely," Jeffrey nodded. "However, I should point out that just because a potion has been banned by the Ministry, it doesn't mean that no one would stop producing them and using them."

They talked until quarter to eleven, and then Jeffrey said that Harry can start working on Wednesday in the Ministry.

"Just come straight into this office on Wednesday morning at half-past eight, Harry," he said.

As soon as Harry went home, Emma was sitting in the living room watching TV, since she didn't have appointments until one in the afternoon.

o-o

Luna did not know what to do, Ron had already been killed, and she thought back in the afternoon on the fourth of January.

_Flashback_

_Ron was sitting alone in silence, and his hands crossed against his chest._

_Luna couldn't bear to see what would happen to Ron, and she felt just as hopeless as he was._

_Twenty four hours had passed, and Voldemort appeared_

_He pointed his wand at Ron, who was securely bound, and he asked._

"_Are you going to go back to Hogwarts?"_

"_No," Ron replied._

"_Avada Kedavra!" Voldemort shouted, and Ron fell to the ground as the curse hit him._

_End Flashback_

The scene of that memory had grieved her, and Dean said that he could not help to make a difference of what had happened.

o-o

Molly and Arthur were both dismayed when they had seen the Daily Prophet stating Ron's death about a fortnight ago.

Although they were not satisfied with the fact that Ron had left Harry and Hermione, they were still grieved about Ron's death. After all, Ron was their youngest son.

Arthur was sure that their family would be targeted next, and they were all living in Shell Cottage ever since they had heard about Ron's death.

Percy Weasley, who had reconciled with his family had decided that it would be best to just leave.

Arthur and Molly couldn't disagree with his idea, and so they planned.

"Let's just go to Romania," Charlie suggested.

"Right," Arthur said.

"What about France?" asked Ginny.

"You need to learn another language if you want to get settled in France," Arthur said.

o-o

Snape, meanwhile, began to consider the possible locations of the rest of the Horcruxes, and he was sure that there must be at least one Horcrux in Gringotts. After all, Gringotts was the safest place you could hide something, except perhaps for Hogwarts.

Perhaps if he persuaded the Lestranges, they could help him sneak in, but at the same time he didn't want to trigger suspicion from Voldemort, so he decided to leave Gringotts as his final location of searching the Horcruxes, as such he may have to use Veritaserum if needed.

He knew that he had to find the Horcruxes and destroy them before Voldemort could be killed, but he was frustrated to do this; since he didn't know if anyone, particularly Amycus and Alecto, would suspect him. He could, of course, ask the rest of the members of the Order of Phoenix for help, but he knew that they would most likely not trust him as they would have already been informed that he was the one who had ended Dumbledore's life.

o-o

Voldemort felt that he had won, and he began to kill Muggles, as well as destroying Muggle places in Britain.

From that time onwards, Wizards started to disappear every day. Remus and Tonks had decided to leave Britain, and the Weasleys had already arrived in Romania.

Alicia Spinnet, Angelina Johnson and Katie Bell were in hiding, and they had met Oliver Wood.

"This is mad," Alicia said. "I don't know when the Wizarding Britain would be back to normal."

"The Ministry is so corrupt right now," Katie said.

"If nothing has been done about the state of the Wizarding Britain, it will never be back to normal," Angelina said.

"The Weasley twins must have left; since they were close to Harry," Oliver said.

"I've heard that Harry and Hermione died, but Ron died as well," Angelina said.

End of Chapter


	37. Chapter 37

Chapter 37

**Revolution of the Wizarding Britain**

Disclaimer: Everything in Harry Potter universe belongs to J.K. Rowling. I got nothing out of this except for enjoyment.

Harry and Hermione had purchased their house, and they moved in there by the end of January. The house contains four bedrooms, one kitchen, one living room, and one dining room. They had purchased the necessary furniture and the things they needed in the kitchen, including the fridge.

As they moved in, they made contact with their friends, and their friends occasionally stopped by to see the house on weekends.

Hermione's parents occasionally visited the house, and Sirius often stopped by as well.

They were too happy to think about what the Wizards in the Wizarding world of Britain had been going through.

o-o

Severus Snape decided that he would first find the locket and destroy it before he deals with the rest of the Horcruxes. He often walked in and out of the Great Hall feeling uncomfortable, although the expression on his face did not raise suspicion from the Carrows.

As soon as he went back to his office one evening, Dumbledore's portrait was speaking to him again.

"I understand that it is hard that the one that I had confided so much information in had not been able to make it, and I am glad that you had made a little bit of progress, Severus," he said.

Snape considered for a moment.

Perhaps if he changed the appearance of his face, it may help him to obtain the Horcrux more efficiently.

Or if he obtained hairs from Bellatrix Lestrange, he could use it in the Polyjuice Potion, which will enable him to transform into Bellatrix's appearance, and he could take stocks of it with Bellatrix's hair with him, just so that he could drink it again before his hour is up. This would help him to get into Gringotts without detection.

As soon as he told Dumbledore's portrait about his idea, Dumbledore smiled.

"Whatever you do, don't let Voldemort discover your true identity, Severus," he said.

"I'll be careful," Snape said.

He decided to act as soon as possible, and he had come up with an excuse to leave Hogwarts temporarily, that he will say to the Carrows that he had an appointment with the Dark Lord.

But this way would be a bit tricky, as he knew that he couldn't be away from Hogwarts for too long, or else the Carrows may suspect him. If he met anyone else in the Order after he had gone out in the open, he didn't know what they would do to him.

o-o

Harry and Hermione were both enjoying themselves in their new house, and Manual Walker arrived on Saturday morning around ten to visit them.

"Haven't been seeing you two for over a year," he said.

"Yeah, we missed you as well," Harry said.

"What are you doing at the moment, Manual?" asked Hermione.

"I am a Wizarding Newspaper reporter for Velion," he said.

There was a short silence, and Harry walked to the kitchen, returning with some tea bags, and three cups.

"Have you found a wife yet, Manual?" asked Harry.

"I have a girlfriend, that's all I can say for now," Manual replied.

"Who?" Hermione asked.

"Alyson Jensen," Manual replied. "She's in the same school year as me in Sainite. We started dating after we finished school."

"What is she doing right now?" Hermione asked.

"She is a Radio Broadcaster on the Wizarding Network," said Manual. "She only works from Monday to Thursday."

There was a pause.

"What job do you have?" he asked.

After Harry and Hermione briefly explained their jobs, Manual smiled.

"I knew that Love Potion has been banned, and I was also involved in the voting of the banning of Love Potions," he said.

Manual had lunch in Harry and Hermione's house, and then he left one hour afterwards, saying that he will visit them again sometime later.

o-o

Without any disturbance, Harry and Hermione slept in one bed on Saturday night.

On the following morning, Harry and Hermione woke up, and they got dressed, then they went down to the kitchen to cook breakfast.

The weather was rather pleasant, and they sat on the sofa, and they relaxed.

They switched on the TV, and they watched a Muggle sports game for about one hour.

Harry thought back after his fourth year in Hogwarts where he spent time outside Number Four, Privet Drive, this was an entirely different experience. He could enjoy the freedom that he wanted, without anyone interfering.

He knew that Canada was one of the best places for him and Hermione to live, and he knew that he found solace in the country.

He had to give thanks to his parents for providing the way of escape for him to leave Britain, such a way that no one would notice.

He wondered what happened to Britain now.

The last time he saw his parents, they told him that Dumbledore was gone, but now he didn't know what had happened to Wizarding Britain.

o-o

Luna, meanwhile, was being tortured by Lucius Malfoy and a few other Death Eaters, and later on, she and Dean were both killed. Xenophilius Lovegood committed suicide after he had heard about Luna's death.

Things in Hogwarts were tense, Neville was forced to hide in the Room of Requirement with a few others.

Soon enough, they were informed that Severus Snape was away from Hogwarts for a while.

Terry Boot and Michael Corner were rather happy with this news, but what with Amycus temporarily taking over Snape's position, they decided to be on the alert.

They had heard about Harry Potter and Hermione Granger's death during Christmas, and they had also heard about Ron's death, followed by Luna and Dean's deaths. Additionally, Ginny was nowhere to be seen.

"I am wondering what Snape is up to," Terry said to Michael.

"Maybe You-Know-Who called him," Michael said.

Back into the Ravenclaw common room, Terry could hear a few Ravenclaws complaining about the classes, and they were not pleased with the state of this school.

A few of them had decided to boycott the Dark Arts class and the Muggle Studies class, and they decided to hide somewhere, and they got the idea of Room of Requirement from Terry and Michael.

However, this brought up an issue, since they could not just boycott one class and turn up in another, or else it might cause the Carrows to suspect them. They had to miss out all the classes, and they must not tell anyone about it.

Some of the Ravenclaws were a little bit terrified about this idea, but they still felt that this idea is better than nothing.

Terry and Michael could not disagree with their ideas to hide somewhere all week long, and they decided to help them out. It would also be a good thing for the Gryffindors and the Hufflepuffs to join in.

"Starting a fight in Hogwarts would do no good, though," Terry said.

o-o

Harry and Hermione went to John Lemus's house on Friday after they left the Ministry of Magic, and John Lemus greeted them.

"Are you living alone right now?" Harry asked.

"Yes," John said. "I am doing newspaper reporting for the Wizarding Herald."

"Do you plan to change your occupation?" Harry asked.

"I might consider applying myself as a Nesassino Professor at the end of this year," John said. "I'll see, I knew that I cannot take the Defense Against the Dark Arts position because I failed the OWL."

There was a pause.

"So you two are together now?" he asked.

"Yes," Harry replied.

"I haven't found a girlfriend yet," John said. "I might find one when I get to Nesassino. Anyway, I am going to the kitchen for now, and cook. Maybe you want to stay for dinner?"

Harry looked at Hermione, and she nodded.

"Yes," Harry said to John.

Five minutes before six o'clock, John Lemus took a pizza onto the dining table, and he cut it into small pieces.

Harry and Hermione took their portions and began to eat, and they were feeling good about John's cooking skill.

A moment later, John went back to the kitchen again, arriving back with a flask of pumpkin juice and three cups, and he poured the juice for Harry and Hermione.

Harry and Hermione told John about the places they visited during their honeymoon, and John was amazed.

"Maybe I should go there when I have a honeymoon with my partner," he said.

After dinner, Harry and Hermione explored John's house a bit more.

"This house looks quite nice," Hermione complimented.

"My parents bought this house for me after I had been employed," John said.

Harry and Hermione lingered a bit more in the living room, and they departed John's house at nine o'clock, and John promised that he would go to their house on another weekend.

o-o

Severus Snape, meanwhile, had managed to find the Locket in Little Hangleton, and he assumed that Voldemort must have been thinking that no one else knows about his Horcruxes, so he didn't put too much thought about where to hide the Locket.

Snape identified Slytherin's mark on the locket, and he knew that only a parselmouth could open it, so he went to the dungeons, and found Salazar Slytherin's portrait, with the Sword of Gryffindor in his right hand.

"Slytherin, I would like you to open this locket for me," he said.

"And why should I open this locket for you, young man?" Slytherin asked.

"The Dark Lord has hidden part of his soul in it, I need to destroy it," said Snape. "He kept himself immortal by hiding part of his soul inside objects."

"That means the Dark Lord had cheated death, something that even I wouldn't dare to do. For the sake of the fact that he had cheated death, I will open it," Slytherin said. "Should I open it now?"

"Yes, on the count to three, one, two three..."

"Open," Slytherin said.

The locket opened, and then Voldemort appeared, after that, Snape immediately stabbed it.

Voldemort screamed, and a moment later, he's gone.

Then Snape went back to his office and informed Dumbledore's portrait that the Locket has been destroyed.

"That's a good news, Severus, but be careful, if Voldemort ever finds out that his locket was gone, you may have to make up a story that someone had taken it, but even so, Voldemort may still be worried about the fact that his Horcrux has been taken," the Dumbledore in the portrait said.

Snape suddenly heard a few footsteps outside the office, and he quickly turned away from Dumbledore's portrait, facing the door.

Sure enough, a few seconds later, he saw Amycus entering the office.

"What can I do for you, Amycus?" Snape asked.

"A few students were not present in my class," Amycus said.

"If you find them, what would you do?" Snape asked.

"I would personally punish them," Amycus said. "I may call the Dark Lord if I need to."

o-o

Alicia, Angelina, Katie, as well as Oliver, were wearing masks, they had met a few Death Eaters who were trying to fight innocent Muggles. They had managed to overpower them because the Death Eaters were shocked by their appearance, they were delayed of thinking to defend themselves.

Bellatrix was among one of them, and she did not manage to shield or dodge the spell that Oliver had shot her, and she fell to the ground, unconscious.

"Are you all right?" Oliver asked the Muggles who were attacked.

"I am okay," one of the Muggles said.

Alicia, Angelina, Katie, and Oliver left the Muggles, and they went elsewhere.

"Where should we go?" Katie asked.

"Back to my house for the time being," Oliver answered.

Not knowing what else they should do, they rested in Oliver's house for a few days, but they were expecting attacks to happen any moment.

They remembered the time that they got attacked by the Death Eaters but managed to survive them, and they knew from the Daily Prophet that Muggleborns were persecuted. This gave them the idea to disguise their faces to shock the Death Eaters and attack them before they do.

They were relieved that no one had attacked Oliver's house, and Alicia felt that it was safe for them.

"It doesn't mean that we should stay here forever, because there may be a chance for the Death Eaters to come here soon," Oliver said.

o-o

Harry and Hermione had bought some games and puzzles, just in case if they have nothing to do during the weekends. Apart from working, they played games when they had nothing to do.

"My parents were right, indeed, there's no one coming after me," Harry said.

"We both know that we deserve a happy life," Hermione said.

"It's just that I had no idea what is going on in Britain right now," Harry said.

"You probably don't need to know this," Hermione said. "Whatever state Britain is in, it has nothing to do with us."

Harry nodded.

As they went to bed, they held each other before they fell into a deep sleep.

On Friday evening, after Harry and Hermione arrived back home, they began to prepare dinner.

They ate dinner in silence, and after dinner, Harry cleared the dishes whereas Hermione wiped the dining table clean.

After a brief period of rest, they watched the television.

The news was reporting about what was currently happening in Britain.

_Currently, there were explosions and deaths from time to time, and the doctors did not identify any cause of deaths. The policemen were involved in trying to find out who could be responsible for these deaths, but the result was yet to come._

Harry knew that it was most likely Voldemort's or the Death Eaters' activity that had caused these deaths to happen, and he knew that the existence of the Wizarding world must not be exposed in Britain.

"I am wondering what the Wizarding world is like in Canada," said Harry.

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked.

"Like are there policies saying that the Wizarding world must not be exposed to Muggles?" Harry said.

"We can ask our friends about this," Hermione said.

On the following afternoon, John Lemus arrived at Harry and Hermione's house.

"Hi John," Harry said.

He motioned John to sit down, and he went to get some tea for him.

"Thanks," John said.

"I want to ask you something," Harry said.

"Ask away," John said.

"Does the Wizarding world have to be concealed from Muggles in this country?" asked Harry.

"Not really, there's never such a policy in Canada saying that the existence of the Wizarding world had to be kept a secret," John said.

"You know, in Britain, the existence of the Wizarding world is concealed from Muggles," Hermione said. "Only certain Muggles know about the existence of the Wizarding world."

"One of the reasons for this could be depending on how the Muggles respond to the existence of the Wizarding world," John said. "In Canada, the Muggles doesn't mind about the existence of the Wizarding world, as long as the Wizards don't cause trouble to the Muggles. In Britain, Muggles may be too resistant to the existence of the Wizarding world, which explains why the Wizarding world had to be concealed from Muggles in Britain."

"That makes sense," Harry said. "In Britain, if Muggles discovered the existence of the Wizarding world, they would have to have that part of the memory modified."

"Then there is no such thing as Status of Secrecy in Canada," Hermione said.

"Status of Secrecy? You mean that the existence of the Wizarding world must be concealed from Muggles?" asked John.

"Yes," Harry said.

"This country is excluded from the International Status of Secrecy; because the Muggles in this country are not resistant to the existence of magic," said John. "You may want to ask the Minister of Magic about this for further details."

Harry nodded.

So on Monday morning, Harry had a little meeting with the Minister of Magic about the Status of Secrecy.

"Indeed, we do not accept the law of the Status of Secrecy, because the Muggles in Canada are not resistant to the existence of magic, as long as magic does not cause negative effects on them," the Minister of Magic said. "However, we cannot say that the Status of Secrecy is a corrupt law. We don't expose the existence of the Magical world of this country through Muggle means such as the television and the Muggle newspapers, though."

"Not to mention that there are several laws established between the Muggle government and the Wizarding government," he went on. "Should such laws be breached, penalties would be given to the people who are responsible for breaching the laws."

"Can the Ministry of Magic detect magic?" asked Harry.

"Yes, but Wizards who are under the age of seventeen are still allowed to use magic in Muggle places, as long as the magic they use is not severe," the Minister said. "Whether we send warnings to them will depend on what magic they had used. If the magic they use is harmless, we wouldn't send warnings to anyone even if they are under the age of seventeen."

"Which means Wizards who are under the age of seventeen could practise magic at home," Harry said.

"To a limited extent," the Minister said.

End of Chapter


	38. Chapter 38

Chapter 38

**The Destruction of the Cup**

Disclaimer: Everything in Harry Potter universe belongs to J.K. Rowling. I got nothing out of this except for enjoyment.

In Hogwarts, the staff who were on the light side could not tolerate what had happened, and as several students had complained to them about the Carrows, Minerva decided it was time to do something.

"I understand that the Carrows were teaching you nothing but dark spells, but we cannot take the matter to the Ministry since it is on the Death Eaters' side right now," she said. "If we have to do something, it has to be in stealth."

"The Room of Requirement would be a good idea for all of us," she went on. "However, I don't want He Who Must Not Be Named to acknowledge that there are still people inside Hogwarts who tries to act in rebellion against him."

She sighed.

"As you may already know, a few of the students in Hogwarts have been killed," she said. "We have no idea how many more lives would be lost."

"Right Professor," Neville Longbottom said.

After Neville left, Tracey Davis and Daphne Greengrass turned up inside the office.

"What can I do for you, girls?" Minerva asked.

"This place is not like Hogwarts any more," Tracey said. "What should we do?"

"The Room of Requirement would be a good place for you both," Minerva said. "Since you both are Slytherins, the students from other houses may not approve you both unless if you had proven yourself to be civil."

"We may have to fight our way out of here," Daphne said.

"You cannot do this without putting yourselves in danger, girls," Minerva said.

"How about wiping the Death Eaters' memories?" asked Tracey.

"If you mean the two Carrows who teach here, Snape may not be happy about this, and he may tell You Know Who about it," Minerva said. "We cannot just install two other Professors here without Snape's approval."

She paused.

"Neville Longbottom had decided to stay in the Room of Requirement as well," she said. "Maybe you could meet him, as well as those who are hiding with him."

o-o

Aberforth Dumbledore had met a few students from Hogwarts, and he understood what situation Hogwarts was currently in. He provided the students with food, which the Room of Requirement does not provide.

He was not sure about how the students in Hogwarts would fight against the darkness, and he suggested that they escape.

"Do you honestly think we are going to allow Hogwarts to remain in this state forever?" Neville asked.

"I don't see any point of insisting on struggling with the war while you are still being educated in a rather dark setting," Aberforth said. "If you could go to another country and attend another Wizarding school to properly finish your education, getting a job, that would be better than nothing."

"I had to say I agree," Lavender said.

Neville Longbottom thought that he was safe because he was a Pureblood, but he couldn't stand the fact that the school might end up on causing him to turn into one of Voldemort's followers.

"Now we've lost a few Gryffindors, Dean, Harry, Hermione, as well as Ron," Seamus said.

"Not to mention one Ravenclaw, Luna Lovegood, had also died," Padma added.

"Ginny Weasley didn't come back either," Neville said. "I am wondering what had happened to her."

"I just hope that she is alive," said Lavender.

"I wouldn't be surprised if she ran away with her family," Aberforth said. "Hagrid went in hiding in a cave with his brother ever since the Ministry tried to arrest him."

Parvati wondered when the mess in Hogwarts would end.

"All right," Neville said. "We might have to just go home."

"Are you going to help us to get to another country?" asked Lavender.

"I'll do my best to assist you guys," Aberforth said.

o-o

Severus Snape had gotten his plans well-sorted, he decided to bewitch his travelling cloak into an invisibility cloak to hear some news from Voldemort, and hopefully, if the location of the cup had been spilled out to him, it would give him an advantage.

After he had bewitched his travelling cloak, he put it on and left Hogwarts.

As soon as he went to Hogsmeade, he apparated to the entrance of Little Hangleton.

He quietly entered the room, but Voldemort was nowhere to be seen.

_Maybe the Dark Lord is in Malfoy Manor, _he thought.

But as soon as he apparated to the entrance gate of Malfoy Manor, he found that he couldn't get in.

He quietly retreated, then he apparated back into Spinner's End.

He had considered that he could perhaps kill Nagini first, but he didn't want Voldemort to become aware of the fact that more of his Horcruxes are missing. Perhaps he had already realised that the Locket had been stolen.

Suddenly, another idea occurred to him.

Perhaps if he disguised himself as someone else, and used Veritaserum to let Bellatrix Lestrange tell him if Voldemort had asked her to keep one of his Horcruxes in her vault, it might help disclose the location of it. If he had to ask her this while she's under Veritaserum, he didn't want to do it while he was in his true identity, or else Bellatrix will suspect which side he is on.

But after that, he would either have to kill Bellatrix Lestrange, or at least prevent her from being discovered by Voldemort, like stunning her and transfigure her into something else that no one would pay attention to, or else if Bellatrix informed Voldemort about the fact that she had leaked out the location of another Horcrux, Voldemort might ask her to remove it from her vault, and he would hide it somewhere else.

However, there was an issue that had somehow forced him back one step in doing this.

He knew that he must start to brew the Polyjuice Potion, as well as Veritaserum, but he didn't know if it would be a good idea to take potion ingredients from Horace's office. Horace probably knew that he was the one who had killed Dumbledore. Would Horace even believe him?

Then an idea occurred to him, he could wait until it is potions lesson, then he could sneak into Slughorn's office to steal the necessary potion ingredients to make Veritaserum and Polyjuice Potion.

He checked the Potions timetable, and he discovered that there are several periods that Slughorn was teaching, enabling him to sneak into Slughorn's office to get what he needed.

o-o

On the following Monday, when Slughorn was having a Potion class with the seventh years, Snape sneaked into Slughorn's office, then he took the ingredients that he needed.

He knew that it would take one month to brew Veritaserum, and also one month to brew the Polyjuice Potion. Hopefully, Voldemort will be finished off sometime in May.

He took all the ingredients and walked out of Hogwarts.

Once he arrived in Hogsmeade, he apparated to Spinner's End, then he laid all the ingredients there.

He decided to start brewing the Veritaserum.

He sighed as he picked out the ingredients, and he prepared a cauldron and began to make it.

He knew that he had to come back to check it regularly, just so that he could finish it on time.

He arrived back into the Hogwarts Great Hall just in time for dinner that evening, and he excused himself saying that he had an appointment from someone, thankfully the Carrows did not suspect him.

After dinner, he went back to his office, not daring to tell Albus Dumbledore's portrait what he was really up to, as he thought that Albus may not approve his actions.

After dinner, as soon as the students went back to their common rooms, Snape went back to his office.

He decided to think about what else he should do.

Thinking about all those times that he had been a professor, he had never expected such a difficult task to be handed down to him, and even though he was making progress, he was tired of doing it.

_Didn't Potter and his friends also feel tired of doing it when they weren't making any progress? _He thought.

o-o

Harry's happiness was interrupted when the newspaper reported that another unapproved potion has been discovered, it was a potion that would make people do what the giver of the potion wanted them to do, just like the Imperius Curse, it was called Telesilen.

Knowing that he worked in this field, he knew that the potion must be outlawed as soon as possible, and he knew that the Ministry had confiscated them and handed it to him to analyse.

He didn't know why someone would want to make such a potion like this, but he knew it was essential for this potion to be outlawed, otherwise, it would be of no benefit, and it could harm others.

"Any results?" Jeffrey asked.

"This potion does not have any benefit at all," Harry replied. "Using this potion is like using Imperius Curse on someone else."

"Then this potion should be outlawed," Jeffrey concluded. "I'll let the Minister of Magic know about this right away."

And he left Harry's office.

A few days later, a voting form was posted to every Wizard, asking them to vote for whether Telesilen should be banned or not, and the votings are due on the twenty-fourth of March.

One week passed, two weeks passed, and the due date was drawing nearer and nearer, but there were very few voting papers turned in, and most of the voting papers were turned in one week before the due date.

"This potion must have been created by some Dark wizards, and by banning them, we will stop it from being used," Harry said. "Surely Sirius will vote to ban this one."

On the twenty-third of March, all the voting papers were turned in, and only a small percentage of Wizards stated to not ban this potion.

"That's good," Harry said to Jeffrey.

However, as soon as the end of March arrived, Harry saw disturbing news on the Wizarding newspaper, saying that Telesilen was still being used, and all of the Wizards who had been creating and using this potion were arrested.

o-o

Snape had caught up with Bellatrix Lestrange while he changed various aspects of his appearance, as he didn't think he could wait for another month for the Polyjuice Potion to become ready.

He stunned her and placed three drops of Veritaserum into her mouth, then he pointed his wand at her, and shot out ropes to tie her up, then he revived her.

"State your name."

"Bellatrix Lestrange."

"Did the Dark Lord ask you to hide something in your vault?"

"Yes, he asked me to hide the Hufflepuff's cup inside the vault," Bellatrix answered.

Snape silently stunned her, and he took some of her hairs, and then he modified her memory before he untied her and revived her. Once she was revived, she left him, he apparated back to Spinner's end and began to brew the Polyjuice Potion.

Then he apparated back to Hogsmeade and walked back to Hogwarts.

o-o

Meanwhile, in the Ministry of Magic of Canada, the Wizards who were caught making the Potion were being trialled in the Wizarding High Court of Law, and they were sentenced to ten years imprisonment.

"The Aurors are still searching for more Wizards who use this potion," Harry said. "It's not over yet."

Harry and Hermione read the Wizarding newspaper every week, but there was no news saying that all the Wizards who were creating and using this potion had been caught. This took away their happiness for the Easter holiday.

"I am wondering what Sirius think of this," Harry said.

After another few days, Harry decided to put this matter out of his mind for a bit, so that he could relax a bit.

They played puzzles together, and as soon as they finished they looked at the puzzle in amazement, although it did take them several hours to complete it since it was a three hundred pieces puzzle.

The puzzle was a majestic looking knight on a horse, and he clutched a sword in his hand.

Unable to part from the finished puzzle, they decided to leave it together until later.

On Sunday, the weather was a bit rainy, thus Harry and Hermione could not go outside to do anything. They sat down together after breakfast, and they received the latest Wizarding newspaper.

_There was an attack happened in Canada that burned one of the Muggle residences in Number Six, Velico Drive, currently, the victim is living in their neighbour's house. The Muggle policemen were informed about this, and they arrived ten minutes after the incident._

_The Aurors were investigating who had been setting fires in the house; since it was a house that belonged to a Wizard. No one was present in the house since the incident had happened, as the residents returned about twenty minutes after the incident._

"I hope this sort of incident won't happen in our house," Harry said.

"This incident would happen more frequently in Britain, I bet," Hermione said.

Harry couldn't disagree with her statement, as he knew that Britain would still be in a war.

o-o

Snape was sure that the mission of getting rid of Voldemort would be completed before the end of the Hogwarts year, so he waited.

Another month had passed, and Snape was ready to get into Gringotts.

He placed Bellatrix Lestrange's hair inside the Polyjuice Potion, and then he took the potion with him in a bottle. As soon as he arrived at Hogsmeade, he gulped down some of the Potion.

Once he was transformed into Bellatrix Lestrange, he apparated to Gringotts.

He went to the counter, stating that he wanted to visit Bellatrix's vault to retrieve something, and the Goblins complied with his request and opened Bellatrix's vault for him.

As soon as he went inside the vault, he searched thoroughly, and then he found a small cup.

He found the Fake Sword of Gryffindor, took it, and used it to reach the cup, and then he grabbed it from the tip of the sword and walked back.

Soon enough, he discovered that his hour was up, and then he took another few gulps of the Polyjuice Potion, and he was transformed back to Bellatrix.

He checked his time, discovering that more than one hour had passed from the time he took his first dose of Polyjuice Potion.

As soon as he walked out of Gringotts, he knew he had done it, and then he apparated back to Hogsmeade and made his way back to Hogwarts.

He felt relieved that he did not encounter anyone, and then he took the real Sword of Gryffindor, and stabbed the cup, destroying it.

_One Horcrux left, _he thought.

He didn't want to tell Dumbledore's portrait about his progress yet, as he didn't know if the Carrows would suspect what he was up to.

o-o

The Weasleys, meanwhile, stayed in a house they had rented in Romania.

Ginny was about to go to another school, and she would have to be homeschooled to attend a Muggle school; because there were no magical schools in Romania.

She didn't like attending Muggle schools, but her parents had no other options for her, which means that she had to go through all the learning process from scratch.

Molly and Arthur were both dismayed because there was no Ministry of Magic in Romania, thus they didn't know what else they would do. Fred and George were not sure it would be a good idea to open a joke shop in Romania. Charlie was still studying dragons, and Bill was also in a quandary of finding a job since he was considered to be uneducated in the Muggle world.

"I can't imagine going through the process of studying at a Muggle University," Arthur said.

"Same here," Molly said.

They could not give Ginny advice on how to deal with Muggle subjects, especially compulsory ones like Mathematics.

Eventually, they began to do training in cooking, and they had decided to become chefs in restaurants.

"We can't use magic to cook while we are in the restaurant," Arthur whispered to Molly.

"Yeah," Molly said.

However, studying wasn't Ginny's only frustration, she was also weeping for the loss of Harry Potter occasionally.

"Just find someone else, Ginny," Arthur said.

Ginny nodded.

End of Chapter


	39. Chapter 39

Chapter 39

**Endings and Beginnings**

Disclaimer: Everything in Harry Potter universe belongs to J.K. Rowling. I got nothing out of this except for enjoyment.

Remus and Tonks held their newborn baby, who had been named Teddy, and they tried to hear the news about what was going on.

They felt lucky that they had survived, but the fact that Harry was killed had caused them grief, and they knew that their child would not have a godfather.

They kept on hearing news about missing people, and they knew that the Wizarding world had a part to play in that.

They decided to try and recruit as many Wizards as possible, that may help them end the war.

Remus sent a Patronus to Lee Jordan and Kingsley Shacklebolt, asking them to arrive at the place that he stayed as soon as possible.

Soon enough, Kingsley and Lee arrived, and Remus began to discuss with them about ending the war.

"We might have to do some killing," Kingsley said. "If we can kill without using the Killing Curse, we will."

"We can use Invisibility Cloaks to sneak up on them if we have to," Remus said.

"Maybe we can use swords to cut the Death Eaters' head off," Kingsley said.

"We could," Remus said.

o-o

Snape had decided to go and search for the snake, Nagini, and destroy it.

He wondered if Voldemort was aware of the fact that there was only one Horcrux left, and he knew that it would be better if he acts fast. The only problem is to locate the snake.

He planned to make a trip to Little Hangleton during the weekend to see if the snake was there, and he would take his travelling cloak with him so that no one would see him.

He knew it would be the best thing to kill the snake without Voldemort around, and after he killed the snake, he would hide the snake so that Voldemort won't know that it had been killed until later.

The one thing on his side is that the Daily Prophet did not mention Bellatrix taking the cup out of Gringotts, which means that Voldemort wasn't aware that the cup would be missing unless if he was aware of the fact that the Locket had gone missing.

And after he kills the snake, he would be killing Voldemort with the Sword of Gryffindor, but he didn't know if anyone would trust him anymore, since he had killed Dumbledore, and he was acting as if he was on the dark side ever since he started teaching in Hogwarts, not to mention that he had reinstated Educational Decree Number Twenty Four, the one that the Ministry of Magic had put up a few years ago.

Would Dumbledore back him up this time? Would the school governor insist on casting him out of Hogwarts after Voldemort had been defeated?

He didn't think for a second that anyone in Hogwarts would trust him after Voldemort had been defeated. Panic started to engulf him, but he didn't want to show it in front of the Carrows.

He didn't know what he should say to Dumbledore's portrait about this.

Should he resign from Hogwarts voluntarily after Voldemort had been defeated?

o-o

Remus, Kingsley and Lee put on the travelling cloak enchanted with invisibility spell, which caused them to become invisible.

Then they Apparated from one place to another, and Remus spotted Greyback and a few others.

They silently stunned Greyback and his companions, then they pulled out their knives; and cut the throat of Greyback.

Blood gushed out of Greyback's neck.

Then they checked the others, discovering that all of them had the Dark Mark on their arms, knowing that they are Death Eaters, Remus cut their throats using his knife.

"This is the first time either of us had done this," Lee said several minutes later.

"And no one would know who had done it," said Kingsley. "We did not use wands to kill them, we used Muggle means to kill them."

Remus nodded.

"Therefore the Ministry of Magic wouldn't be able to figure out who did this," he said. "But just as a safety precaution, let's transfigure them into bones and bury them."

Kingsley and Lee nodded.

After they transfigured the Death Eaters into bones, they magically cleaned up the blood on the ground, and they dug a hole and placed the bones inside, then they covered them up with dust.

Then they left.

On the following day, they saw another news in the Daily Prophet.

**Snatchers Gone Missing**

_Yesterday, several snatchers who were ordered __by He Who Must Not Be Named__ to search for Muggleborns and Blood Traitors had gone missing._

"_The Ministry is currently searching for these people," the current Director of Magical Law Enforcement, Yaxley, stated._

Remus knew perfectly well who did this, and they smiled.

o-o

As soon as Severus Snape saw the news, he didn't know what he should say, and he wants to find the snake and destroy it as soon as possible.

He knew that he had to make a move as soon as possible; so that the war would end soon.

As soon as Saturday arrived, he excused himself saying that he will be away, then he walked out of Hogwarts, placed his travelling cloak on, and made his way to Hogsmeade.

Then he Apparated to Little Hangleton.

He knew that the snake had to be somewhere.

Soon enough, the snake arrived.

Snape raised the sword and sliced its head off before it could do anything.

Then he observed his surroundings.

Once he was sure that no one was nearby, he made his way into the Riddle house, and he noticed that it was deserted.

He wondered if he should wait and see if Voldemort would come back sooner or later, but there was no sign of him even after one hour.

Sighing, he decided to give up on looking for Voldemort for the time being, then he Apparated back to Hogsmeade, took his travelling cloak off, and walked back to Hogwarts.

Once he was back inside his office, he felt elated, at least all the Horcruxes had been destroyed.

o-o

As soon as Voldemort arrived back in Little Hangleton, he discovered that the snake was killed, and he wondered who had killed the snake.

He had previously known that his locket was missing, but he didn't think anyone would have known that it was his Horcrux, so he didn't care too much about it, since he knew that there was a cup in Bellatrix's vault in Gringotts, and no one would be able to get it.

However, the destruction of the snake had made him more aware of the possibility that his Horcruxes were being hunted.

He sighed, and he decided to ask Bellatrix Lestrange to check the Lestranges' vault and see if the cup has been stolen or not.

o-o

"You called me, Master?" Bellatrix asked.

"I did," Voldemort said.

"What do you want from me?" asked Bellatrix.

"I want you to check your vault to see if the cup I had asked you to hide in there had been taken or not," Voldemort answered.

"How could it be possible for that cup to be stolen?" Bellatrix asked.

"I know it is not likely for that to happen," Voldemort said. "I just want you to check your vault tomorrow."

Bellatrix nodded.

"Now leave," Voldemort said.

So on the following morning, Bellatrix went to Gringotts, and she visited her vault.

She carefully scanned every location in her vault, but she did not find the cup.

_I wondered who had taken the cup, _she thought. _The Dark Lord would not be happy about the fact that the cup was lost._

She took some gold out of her vault, and she walked back to the counter and exited Gringotts.

Once she arrived back in Little Hangleton, she informed Voldemort about the fact that the cup was missing.

Voldemort raged in extreme fury, and Bellatrix had never seen him this angry, then he used the Cruciatus Curse on Bellatrix.

After he released the curse, he ordered Bellatrix to leave.

Then he decided to check whether the Horcrux he had hidden inside Hogwarts was still present.

o-o

Severus Snape was sitting inside his office, and then a Patronus arrived.

_I am coming to check on Hogwarts._

Then it vanished.

Snape knew that it was Voldemort's voice, and he knew that Voldemort must have been aware of the fact that his Horcruxes had all been destroyed, he decided to wait.

He quickly placed his invisibility spell enchanted travelling cloak on, and then he checked his watch.

It was nearly ten o'clock, and he knew that the students were having lessons, or else they would be in the common room.

He went to the entrance of the Great Hall and waited.

As soon as Voldemort arrived, Snape stunned him, and then he used the Sword of Gryffindor to cut Voldemort's head off.

Voldemort's head parted from his body, Snape knew that his job was done.

He dragged Voldemort's body to the right side of the entrance, and then he took Voldemort's head and placed it beside his body, then he went back to his office.

"The Dark Lord has been defeated," Snape said to Dumbledore's portrait.

"Great," Dumbledore said.

"I don't know if anyone would trust me, though," Snape said. "I've pretended to be a Death Eater for so long."

"It would not be a good idea for you to resign; since you would have nowhere else to seek your fortune," Dumbledore said. "You may have to show your memories to the governors so that they will know that you are on the light side."

"I'll see what I can do," Snape said.

o-o

As soon as lunchtime arrived, the students entered the Great Hall.

One of the Slytherin boys spotted a headless body and the head beside it, then he gasped.

"What's the matter?" a student beside him asked.

"Look at this."

Several Ravenclaws went and looked, it was Voldemort's head and body.

Draco Malfoy looked at the teachers' table, and he realised that Amycus and Alecto were both absent.

A moment later, Snape's voice rang out.

"Would everyone pay attention please?"

All the students turned their attention to the teachers' table, and they stared at the staff.

"There is news I want to tell you, the darkness of the Wizarding Britain has gone. The Dark Lord has died," Snape said.

There was a burst of applause from the students.

"I know that I may have been favouring the Slytherins over the students of the other houses since I started to teach here, but I want you to know that from now on, this will not happen again."

"Also, as you can see that Amycus and Alecto Carrow are not with us right now, I had already dealt with them both, and now, the school year will end on the last weekday of this week, and there shall be no exams taking place."

There was another burst of applause from the students.

o-o

Kingsley Shacklebolt was promoted the Minister of Magic, and during his first term as the Minister of Magic, all the innocent Wizards were freed from Azkaban.

A trial was held for Yaxley, and Yaxley had been sentenced to Azkaban, and several days later, several other Death Eaters were caught and sent to Azkaban as well, including Bellatrix Lestrange.

Dolores Umbridge had also been given a trial, and she was sentenced to Azkaban for persecuting Muggleborns.

Amycus and Alecto were also trialed and imprisoned in Azkaban.

Severus Snape was not so lucky, even though he was pretending to be on the dark side, he was fined one thousand Galleons since he had been favouring only the students in Slytherin. His participation in killing Voldemort, however, had managed to keep him out of Azkaban. He was taken from his position of Headmaster of Hogwarts and was appointed as the Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor, and Minerva McGonagall was promoted as the Headmistress.

Hagrid was welcomed back to Hogwarts, and he continued his post as Care of Magical Creatures teacher.

Peter Pettigrew, on the other hand, decided to remain in his rat form as much as possible. Ever since he heard that his master had been defeated, he could not risk exposing himself anymore. Only that he gathered together with some other rats, and he randomly entered a Muggle house with them. He was eventually trapped inside a rat trap that the owner of the house had set up, and he died not long afterwards.

Minerva had appointed a man in his twenties named Gary Gill as the Muggle Studies professor. He was a half-blood wizard who had survived the war, and she also hired another woman in her thirties named Ethel Hansen to replace her position as Transfiguration teacher and Head of Gryffindor house.

She felt sad about the loss of several students, such as Luna, Dean, Ron, Harry and Hermione, but she knew that it was time to move on.

She also hoped that she would see Ginny again someday.

o-o

Ginny received an owl from Minerva in July, saying that the Wizarding Britain was back to normal, once she told her parents about it, Molly and Arthur agreed to go back to Britain.

Upon arriving back in Britain, Ginny couldn't wait to go back to Hogwarts, she knew that it was her seventh year, and she would be sitting her NEWTs.

The Weasleys were grieved about Ron's death, and Ginny knew that she had to find someone else to marry.

As soon as the first day of September arrived, Ginny sat in Hogwarts Express, and she sat with Neville, Seamus, and Lavender.

"This year will be much better," Neville said.

"Numerous lives had been lost, though," Lavender said.

"I know, particularly the famous Harry Potter," Ginny said.

"There were several students who will not come back, Luna, Dean, Hermione and Ron," Lavender said.

"Hopefully we can do without them," Seamus said.

o-o

As soon as the students entered Hogwarts, the first years walked through the staircase, and Professor Flitwick was there to give them instructions.

As the sorting started, Professor Flitwick called the names of the first years one by one, and as the sorting had finished, Professor McGonagall rose to her feet.

"Welcome to another year in Hogwarts," she said. "The past school year may have brought some grief to all the students who had attended Hogwarts last year."

"I would like to introduce you to our new Muggle Studies teacher, Professor Gill, and Professor Severus Snape had been appointed the permanent Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Professor Ethel Hanson will replace my former position as the Transfiguration teacher, and she will also be the Head of Gryffindor house from now on."

A round of applause erupted from the students, and then Professor McGonagall silenced them.

"The Forbidden Forest remains out of bounds to all the students," she said, "and a few older students would do that to remember that as well."

"I have also been asked by Mr Filch, the caretaker, to remind you that no magic is allowed to be used in the corridors."

"Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of the term, anyone interested to play for the house team should go and see Madam Hooch."

"Finally, I want to tell you the war had caused the loss of several of our students, I want you to know that Ronald Weasley, Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Luna Lovegood and Dean Thomas had died in the war," Professor McGonagall said.

Ginny Weasley burst into tears as she heard it. Some Gryffindors looked a bit sad at the news of the loss of four students from their house, and some of the Ravenclaws had also cried over the loss of Luna Lovegood.

"Now let the feast begin," Professor McGonagall said.

The empty plates on the house tables were filled with food again, and everyone grabbed whatever they could reach and started to eat.

"People die every day, but we survived, the best thing to do is to move on," Neville told a sobbing Lavender.

"I just hope that the start of this year would be better than all the previous years," Parvati said.

As soon as the food faded, and the dessert arrived, while Seamus helped himself to some ice creams, the Ravenclaws were chatting as well.

Tracey Davis and Daphne Greengrass had wanted to speak with some of the first years who joined the Slytherins, although Draco Malfoy did not approve it much.

About two hours later, Professor McGonagall informed everyone that it was bedtime, and the prefects led the first years to their house common room.

End of Chapter


	40. Chapter 40

Chapter 40

**A New Life**

Disclaimer: Everything in Harry Potter universe belongs to J.K. Rowling. I got nothing out of this except for enjoyment.

Harry and Hermione felt happier than ever, they were ecstatic when the news in the Wizarding newspaper reported that the case of the fire that burnt down a house in Velico Drive had been resolved. The Dark wizards who had set the fires were captured and interrogated, and they were sentenced to eight years imprisonment. They were caught by the Aurors when they tried to burn down another house in another street.

As a member of the Council of Magical Law, Hermione knew that this sort of behaviour was not to be tolerated, and she had passed a verdict on this case.

"Hopefully this sort of incident will be reduced," Harry said after he and Hermione went home from the Ministry on Wednesday evening.

"I certainly hope so," Hermione said.

Harry decided to cook Spaghetti Bolognese for dinner, and Hermione agreed to help him out.

As Harry boiled the water in a pot and placed some Spaghetti into the water, Hermione was busy frying the mince.

It didn't take too long to prepare dinner. As they put the Spaghetti into separate bowls, placing some mince on top, they took them to the dining table.

After dinner, Harry washed the dishes while Hermione cleared the dining table.

They sat down in silence, and Harry just received a letter from Sirius, saying that they want to have some time together.

Not knowing what had happened in Britain, Harry only hoped that the Death Eaters were being held under control. He knew that no one in Britain would know that he was in Canada, but he was sure that it would do no good if the Death Eaters had started to attack other countries.

As soon as he fell asleep that night, James and Lily appeared again.

"Be rest assured Harry, Voldemort is gone now, although your clones had died in Bathilda's house," James said.

"Who?" Harry asked.

"Bathilda Bagshot, the author of A History of Magic, was killed sometime after Dumbledore died. Anyway, your clone and Hermione's clone went into Godric Hollow to fetch the Sword of Gryffindor, they met Bathilda Bagshot, but she was Voldemort's snake in disguise, and she lured you both into her house," James said. "She asked your clone to come with her, and sometime later she turned turned into Voldemort's snake."

"The cloned Hermione rushed in to help your clone, but we used an inescapable barrier to block your clone and Hermione's clone from escaping, and Voldemort arrived and killed your clones," he went on.

"The cloned Vernon and Petunia had been taken away by us while they were sleeping in the same room as Dudley, right after they fled from Britain and arrived in Singapore along with Dedalus and Hestia," Lily said. "Dudley, of course, had no idea what happened to his parents after he had realised that they had disappeared when he woke up in the morning."

"Some students in Hogwarts had died during the war, but there would be no need for me to tell you who they are, none of them was in Slytherin, though," James said.

"How did Voldemort die?" asked Harry.

James and Lily explained about the Horcruxes, how Snape had managed to get rid of them, stunning Voldemort and killing him with the Sword of Gryffindor while he was invisible.

"This means that Hermione and I can go back to Britain now," Harry said.

"No," Lily answered.

"Why not?" asked Harry.

"If you go back, you must make sure that no one will see you," James said. "Or else you need to change your appearance and your name while you are there."

"What are you talking about?" asked Harry.

"Think about it, if we cloned you and placed it in Britain to ensure that you are protected, and your clone died, the people in Britain would think you died. How on earth would you allow your original self to go back and reappear to the Wizarding world of Britain again?" Lily said. "They will know that you were pretending to be there when you were not there."

"The people in the Order of the Phoneix will think that they had wasted their efforts, they were escorting your clone from where he lived to the Kings Cross to get to Hogwarts, as well as from the Kings Cross back to where he was supposed to be when he returns home from Hogwarts," James said. "You may be facing legal consequences if the Ministry ever finds out about this. This is known as fraud. The current Minister of Magic in Britain may sentence you to a few years in Azkaban, as well as charging you with fines for this. Not to mention that the Minister of Magic in Britain will have to check everyone once per year to ensure that they are not disguised. which will give more burden to the Ministry."

"Right, I got it," Harry said.

o-o

Hogwarts was peaceful that year, although several students knew that Christmas Eve would be the anniversary of Harry and Hermione's death, this made a lot of students feel sorrowful, especially Ginny.

She didn't know if she should mourn during Christmas Eve. The previous Christmas Eve had been quite uneventful. Harry Potter, the boy who had saved her from Tom Riddle during her first year, had now left this world.

Additionally, Ron had died sometime later in the hand of Voldemort, and she could not put up with such a thing.

Thinking back, she had been going out with Michael Corner, and then they split up

Then she went out with Dean Thomas, but then she split up with him.

Then she went out with Harry, only that Harry had died.

She had to find someone else.

She didn't know who she would end up with, so she wrote to her parents, asking them for advice.

Seamus seemed to be quite alone, and she thought she would give him a try.

However, even though she had spent some time with Seamus, her heart began to sank when Seamus decided to go out with Romilda Vane.

Colin Creevey had seen Ginny's sorrows, and he decided to go out with her.

When he asked her out, she immediately agreed, since she didn't have anyone else to go out with as of yet, she didn't want to miss a single opportunity.

No one had objected those two gotten together within the month.

o-o

Harry and Hermione arrived home from the Ministry of Magic on Friday afternoon, and they sat down and rested.

"How's your day, love?" Harry asked.

"Quite good," Hermione replied.

There was a short silence, then the weather changed. Rain began to fall from the sky.

Hermione volunteered to cook for the evening, and Harry agreed.

"Do you need any help, love?" he asked.

"Thanks, Harry, but I don't need help, because it won't take too long for me to manage it," Hermione replied, smiling.

Harry switched on the TV, and he watched a football game while Hermione was cooking.

"Dinner's ready, love," she said.

Harry sat down on a chair by the dining table, and Hermione sat down next to him, then they began to eat.

After eating, Harry cleared the dining table, and he washed the dishes. After he had finished, he went back to the living room and saw Hermione relaxing on the sofa.

He went and sat beside her. She looked at him and smiled.

They went shopping on the following day, and they bought themselves some new clothes to wear.

Once they arrived back home, they put the groceries away, and they began to cook Calzones for lunch.

The lunch was ready at quarter to one, and Harry and Hermione began to eat it.

"At least we didn't do too bad," Hermione said. "We just learnt this recipe not too long ago."

After lunch, Hermione went and placed the clothes in the washing machine whereas Harry cleared the dining table and washed the dishes.

After Harry washed the dishes, it had started to rain, and Hermione knew that she would have to hang the clothes inside.

"We could use the Hot Air Charm on the clothes," Harry said. "This way, the clothes would dry quicker."

Hermione laughed.

"We will hang them anyway even if you are going to do that," she said.

She took the clothes out; and placed them inside a basin.

Harry waved his wand at the basin and muttered the incantation of the Hot Air Charm.

The rain continued to fall from the sky until about half-past five in the evening, so Harry decided to hang them out the next day.

They began to cook.

The dinner was ready in half-past six.

After they had eaten, Harry cleared the dining table and washed the dishes, while he was doing the dishes, he heard the sound of a vacuum cleaner.

After he finished washing the dishes, he went into the living room and sat down.

A moment later, Hermione came around and sat down beside him.

"You must have been vacuuming the floor just now," Harry said.

"I did," Hermione said.

Then they switched on the TV and watched it for quite some time.

o-o

Meanwhile, in Hogwarts, Lavender had seen Ginny snogging Colin quite frequently.

"It seems that they are dating," Lavender said to Parvati quietly.

"Yeah," Parvati said. "Now that Harry had gone..."

But before she could finish speaking, Ginny turned and stared at her angrily.

"Don't you dare bring this up when I am around," she said firmly. "Several students were killed, Harry and Hermione died while fighting the war, and Ron left Harry and Hermione before he got captured by the Death Eaters."

"Of course you care about Ron, he's your brother!" Lavender snapped back at her, "and you also cared about Harry because he dated you over one year ago!"

"Maybe you don't have a sibling, or else you would know how it feels when you lose one," Ginny retorted.

"I have a sibling, so I know how it feels if I lose Dennis," Colin added.

Lavender didn't know what she should say, and she whispered something to Parvati, and they walked their way back to the girls' dormitory.

Just then, Neville arrived at the scene.

"What's going on?" he asked.

As soon as Ginny told Neville about Parvati and Lavender's conversation, Neville frowned.

"I don't think I have anything to say about this," he said.

Then Ginny saw Parvati came out of her dormitory, walking towards Seamus, then tried to snog him, but he pushed her away.

"Are you with someone else already, Seamus?" Parvati asked.

"Yes," Seamus said.

After breakfast on the following morning, most of the students went out to the school grounds to play.

Seamus met Ernie, Hannah and Susan, and he decided to talk to them for a moment.

"Are you all right, Seamus?" Ernie asked.

"I am all right," Seamus said.

"We have been fighting for our lives last year, it was so hard for us," Ernie said.

"At least Snape is not a biased teacher any longer," Seamus said.

"Yeah," Ernie said.

A moment later, Tracey Davis and Daphne Greengrass arrived, along with Draco Malfoy.

Seamus looked at Draco with disdain, but Tracey assured him that Draco would not be of any harm.

"How can I trust the Slytherins?" Seamus questioned Tracey.

"So you rather think that I am a total outcast to most of the school except for the Slytherins?" asked Draco.

"I see, you want Harry dead," Seamus said. "He had already died, happy?"

Draco didn't know what to say, so he turned away.

He was now facing the biggest difficulty in Hogwarts, everyone in Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw had been keeping themselves away from him. He didn't know if he should talk to Crabbe and Goyle about this.

Just then, Snape arrived.

"What is going on here?" he asked.

"They treated me like a total outcast, Professor," Draco said. "I only have the Slytherins to hang out with."

Snape sighed.

"Let's not worry about them for the time being, Draco," he said simply. "I have no reason to do anything to any of them yet."

Draco nodded, and he started to hang out with the Slytherins again.

Tracey and Daphne had no idea what they should do to resolve the problem between the Slytherins and the other houses.

They had talked with Malcolm Baddock, as well as Graham Pritchard, and Astoria Greengrass, but they said that they could not guarantee anything.

"I'll try and get along with one Hufflepuff student, to see if that will make a difference," Astoria said.

o-o

Some of the Hufflepuff students did not fully agree with the statement that no Slytherins were to be trusted, so Owen Cauldwell started to get along with a few Slytherins.

Malcolm took this chance, and he began to get along with Owen.

The students from the other houses looked at the pair of them in disdain when they are talking together.

Snape frequently saw the pair of them together, he didn't know if he should be worried whether those two might be causing trouble with each other or not.

Susan Bones, however, didn't seem to be having a problem with Owen and Malcolm getting together.

One fortnight passed, some of the younger Ravenclaw students had started to get along with the Slytherins as well. Orla Quirke had decided to speak to Daphne Greengrass, and Padma joined in with her.

Orla found that she had no problems with the Slytherins, and Stewart Ackerley joined in with her to befriend the Slytherins.

Natalie MacDonald joined in with the Slytherins at the end of October, although Jimmy Peakes was somehow a bit reluctant to join in with them.

Ginny Weasley was a bit frustrated, so she wrote a letter to her parents, explaining the situation.

She received the reply two days later, and she found that her parents did not care too much about the fact that Gryffindors had started to get along with the Slytherins. They had suggested, however, that in the likely event that something violent occurs, she could always disassociate from them, but they also stated that she must not look at the Slytherins with total contempt.

She decided to get some reports from her fellow Gryffindor students about the Slytherins before she joins in with them.

Another week passed, there were no incidents from some of the Slytherins. Draco Malfoy did cause some problems but they were not severe, and Snape had taken appropriate action against him so that he would not do it again.

Draco was not too used to Snape's action against him at first, consider that Snape had been 'overprotecting' him for the past six years, although he did hear about Snape's announcement.

As November passed, Draco began to change, just before the Christmas holidays began, Draco was no longer an outcast to the students in other houses.

Pansy was not too impressed with the fact that Draco had changed, but seeing that Snape approved Draco, she could not do anything.

Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle were not happy about Draco, and they decided it was time to get away from him. When they snipped him, Tracey and Daphne argued back on them, telling them to leave Draco alone. Blaise Zabini also supported Draco, except that he almost hexed Crabbe and Goyle as they simply ran away.

Ultimately, most of the Slytherin students got along better with the students in the other houses.

o-o

**Epilogue in Britain**

14 Years Later

"Ready?" Ginny asked.

"I am ready," Ronald Creevey said.

"What about you, Amy?" Ginny asked.

"I am ready as well," Amy said.

They were at the Kings Cross, and they had crossed the barrier of Platform Nine and Three Quarters.

"I am wondering what house I will be sorted into," Amy said. "I know Ronald was sorted into Hufflepuff, I am wondering if I will be in the same house as him."

"I and all of my siblings were in Gryffindor," Ginny said. "Only Ronald was being sorted into Hufflepuff this time. Where the sorting hat put you will mostly be depending on your character, though it may sometimes take your choice into consideration."

"I was in Gryffindor as well," Colin said.

They met a few of their friends from Hogwarts, Susan Longbottom was there to get her first child, Amelia, to Hogwarts. Susan stated that her husband, Neville Longbottom, had excused himself and went to Hogwarts because he was a Professor. Seamus and Romilda Finnegan were sending their first and only child, Jack, to Hogwarts.

"You will write to me, won't you?" Amy asked.

"We will," Colin said.

After they had their conversation, Ginny checked her watch.

"We've got only five minutes left, you two better get on the train," she said to Ronald and Amy.

Ronald and Amy hopped onto the train, and then Ginny and Colin helped to lift Ronald and Amy's trunk onto the train.

As the train left, Ginny and Colin went to their workplace.

o-o

**Epilogue in Canada**

"What does it mean when they say to hold the screw and say 'Sainite', Mum?" James asked.

Hermione looked at the letter from Sainite.

"The screw is a portkey, James," she replied. "Sainite is the activation word of it, which will get you straight to the school entrance."

Then she briefly explained what is a portkey and how to use it.

"I never used a portkey before," James said.

"I'll do it with you for the first time," Hermione said.

"What about me?" Lily asked. "Are you going to do it with me for the first time when I get to go to Sainite too?"

"You will be doing it along with your brother as you get to Sainite, so there will be no need for one of us to accompany you," Harry answered.

"This isn't fair," Lily said.

Hermione laughed.

"James is the only one who will attend Sainite tomorrow," she said. "I don't think he will get used to it at first; since he had never used a portkey before, and he is going by himself. When you get to go to Sainite, you will be going with him, and he will guide you."

Lily fell silent, then she nodded.

Soon enough, the first day of Sainite arrived, in the afternoon, James held his trunk in one hand, in his other hand he held the portkey, and Hermione grabbed it as well.

"You say the activation word, James," Hermione said.

"Sainite," James said.

A moment later, they both saw themselves at the entrance of Sainite.

"Here it is," Hermione said. "You get in, I am going back home. Keep this portkey since you will need it when you come back home. See you at Easter."

"See you, Mum," James said, and then he dragged his trunk, and entered the school.

Hermione walked away from the school, and as she reached the apparition point, she Apparated back home.

"Is James all right?" Harry asked.

"Yes," Hermione responded.

Then she sat down on the sofa, and Lily looked at her.

"Why didn't you say the activation word, Mum?" she asked.

"It was James who was supposed to attend school, not me," Hermione answered.

On Saturday evening, they received a letter from James.

_Dear Mum and Dad_

_I had a great time in Sainite, and I had made several friends._

_Regards_

_James Potter_

"Is my brother all right, Dad?" Lily asked.

"Yes, he is all right," Harry replied.

A/N:

So this is the end of the story.


End file.
